Borat is sued again
Victim claims 'emotional damage'
Borat has been sued yet again – this time by a New York businessman he chased down Fifth Avenue.Jeffrey Lemerond was seen fleeing in apparent terror when Sacha Baron Cohen’s character demanded hugs from strangers.
In a lawsuit filed at a New York district court last week, the 31-year-old financial analyst claims his civil rights were violated by the brief scene, which caused him ‘emotional damage’.
He lodged the writ anonymously, but thesmokinggun.com website, which obtained the lawsuit, said he used his real name in near-identical papers that were filed and immediately withdrawn in January.
Lemerond claims to have suffered ‘public ridicule, degradation, and humiliation’ as a result of his brief appearance, where he scarpered from Cohen, screaming ‘go away’.
Cohen, distributor Twentieth Century Fox, director Larry Charles, and producer Jay Roach as defendants in this latest legal action. It seeks unspecified ‘substantial’ damages, and notes that the Borat film has grossed more than $320 million in movie ticket and DVD sales.
Published: 7 Jun 2007
