Frat boys' lawsuit thrown out

Frat boys Christopher Rotunda and Justin Seay sued creator Sacha Baron Cohen and other film-makers and distributors after they were shown drunkenly making racist and sexist comments.

The South Carolina college pair claimed that they had been duped, because the production team had plied them with alcohol and assured them the film would not be shown in America before they signed a release form allowing the footage to be used.

Airing their comments made them ‘the objects of ridicule, humiliation, mental anguish, and emotional and physical distress’ according to their lawsuit, and caused them to suffer ‘loss of reputation, goodwill and standing in the community.’

However, a judge has now granted a request by 20th Century Fox to have the action thrown out of court.

Judge Joseph Biderman based his decision on California's Anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation statute, designed to stop legal action being used to silence, intimidate or punish anyone simply for raising issues that are in the public interest.

Fox’s lawyers had claimed there was such interest in exposing ‘American views and attitudes about anti-Semitism, racism and sexism’.

The judge had previously rejected an earlier injunction that would have forced the studio to remove the scene from the DVD release.

Rotunda and Seay’s lawyer says his clients will appeal the decision. They have previously argued that they are suing because of the conduct of the film's producers, rather than what appeared on screen.

• Sacha Baron Cohen has declined an invitation to present an Oscar, because he was not allowed to do it in character, the show's broadcast producer has revealed.