Frat Boys Sue Borat

Less than a week after its $26.4 million debut, Borat has been hit by one lawsuit and faces the threat of another. Yesterday, two South Carolina frat boys who appear in the film as drunken, misogynistic, homophobic and borderline homoerotic passengers in an RV that picks up Borat‘s hitchhiking character filed suit yesterday to “to protect themselves from any additional and unnecessary embarrassment.”

While at first glance the lawsuit seems like damage control for a pair of humiliated frat kids, this part of their claim, if true could be damning to the Borat camp: In October 2005, 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 of the United States.

“They were induced to agree to participate,” said boys’ attorney, Olivier Taillieu, told the Associated Press. “They were put into an RV and were made to believe they were picking up Borat the hitchhiker.”

After a bout of heavy drinking, the plaintiffs signed a release form they were told “had something to do with reliability issues with being in the RV,” Taillieu said.

The lawsuit follows on the heels of a claim by late-’90s Internet celebrity Mahir Cagri, who intends to sue Baron Cohen over similarities between himself and the Borat character.

FishbowlNY’s Borat Coverage:

$26.4 Million Buys Borat Potential Lawsuit

Borat Provides Copywriters ‘Glorious Hand Relief’

The Vanity Fair Borat Cover That Never Happened

Borat: Cultural Consequences Of Staying In Character

Borat: The Halloween Costume

Borat Soundtrack To Include ‘Throw Jew Down The Well’; iTunes Gets It Week Early

‘Make Click’ On Borat‘s ‘Official Home Site’

Borat’s Revenge! Cohen Character Makes Cover Of Entertainment Weekly

Borat‘s Vanity Fair Snub? Carter Goes With Clooney Over Cohen For November Cover

Borat Damage Control: Kazakhstan Takes Out 4-Page Times Ad

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