I’m pretty sure the Borat movie has led to more lawsuits than any other movie in the history of… movies. There must have been at least 92 lawsuits related to Borat. Which isn’t really surprising when you do embarrassing things to unsuspecting members of a litigious society. Luckily for free speech, another Borat lawsuit – this one poop related – has been quashed. Etiquette teacher Kathie Martin has sued after British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen and the movie’s producers after Cohen’s Borat character brought a bag of poop to one of her parties. You could see how she’s be a little annoyed.
The justices overruled a lower court and said Martin can’t sue Cohen and the companies that produced the movie in Alabama because she signed an agreement stating only courts in New York could hear any disputes that arose from her appearance.
In the movie, Cohen plays a journalist from Kazakhstan traveling across the United States in search of Pamela Anderson. He gives out random high fives and says “Very nice!” all along the way, misunderstanding American culture at every stop. During a segment in Alabama, Borat sought etiquette lessons from Martin and is shown in the movie presenting guests at a dinner party with a bag of human feces. The Supreme Court was polite enough not to go into details of the dinner: “It is sufficient to say that an eventful meal ensued during which the alleged reporter engaged in behavior that would generally be considered boorish and offensive,” wrote Justice Mike Bolin.
[From the Huffington Post]
Martin was pretty pissed about the whole debacle. She didn’t just sue Cohen and the biggest production company responsible – she went after everyone. Aside from Cohen, Martin also went after Twentieth Century, One America Productions Inc., Everyman Pictures, Dune Entertainment, MTV Networks, Comedy Central, Dakota North Entertainment Inc. and Four by Two Production Co. I think she may have sued the caterer and the gaffer too. The case isn’t thrown out altogether, she’ll just have to start from scratch in New York. And I’ve got to tell you, here carrying around a bag of poop is pretty much status quo, so I don’t think she’s going to get much sympathy.
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