Last week, after seeing Borat, I blogged about the humiliated frat guys who came into contact with Borat while driving down the road. Borat climbed into their RV. The completely drunk fraternity guys proceeded to give Borat ridiculous advice about women, drinking, and how he should treat women.
Well, in a highly litigious society such as ours, I guess I really wasn’t surprised at all to see this story. Apparently the fraternity guys are filing suit against Borat.
I guess I laughed when the plaintiffs were not named in the lawsuit “to protect themselves from any additional and unnecessary embarrassment”. Well, of course they weren’t named in the lawsuit. Nobody knows who they are… except for the millions of individuals who have gone to the theater, thus far, to see Borat play. (In case you have not seen the movie, their names, university, and the name of their fraternity is clearly indicated on the screen.)
According to the lawsuit, “a production crew took the students to a bar to drink and loosen up before participating in what they were told would be a documentary to be shown outside the United States.”
They were “induced to agree to participate and were told the name of the fraternity and the name of their school wouldn’t be used.” [Did they get that in writing?] Then, “they were put into an RV and are made to believe they were picking up Borat the hitchhiker.”
After a good bit of heavy drinking, the plaintiffs allege that they were made the “object of ridicule, humiliation, mental anguish and emotional and physical distress, lost reputation, goodwill and standing in the community”. But, I ask … did Borat do that, or did they do that to themselves? I laugh as I read this article. It is absolutely clear to me that these kids have no sense of personal responsibility, whatsoever. Look, they got obliterated and were dumb enough to consent to be in a movie where they look like complete idiots. I fail to see a cause of action.
While I sympathize with their plight, I do not agree with their decision to file a law suit against Borat. Simply put, they brought this on themselves. Nevertheless, it is interesting to me to see the extent to which people will go to drain money from others and evade personal responsibility for their own actions.
Given, these individuals will have a tough time ever being employed anywhere (or getting dates with women – for that matter). I guess they should look at the bright side of this situation and enjoy their 15 minutes of fame. Because when this is over, they will probably be forgotten. And, Borat is only big in the U.S. …. think of all the countries that they could move to where NObody would recognize them. Seeeee, they aren’t without options. 
Reminds me of Girls Gone Wild in a way.
Only two of the frat boys are suing. The third said it was fun and was just acting like a frat boy per their request. but what should the producers expect when they give these kids (one was not even 21) free beer and goad them into a couple soundbites after spending hours shocking them with things that were so obviously jokes. watching the movie they clearly are in on it and only have dollar signs in their eyes…