Man sues over Borat bathroom scene

An American man claims he was "accosted" by the star of the spoof documentary Borat - alias comedian Sacha Baron Cohen - while using a bathroom at an upmarket restaurant last year, according to a lawsuit.

The scene with the man, who was not identified in the lawsuit, does not appear in the hit movie but has been shown on Comedy Central and various video-sharing websites, said Columbia attorney Jonathan Milling.

"He has been contacted by numerous people who have recognised him," Milling said.

The plaintiff, a South Carolina resident, says the comedian - also famous for the comic creation Ali G - posed as a bathroom attendant at Ristorante Divino in October 2005, invading his privacy and staring as he used a urinal, according to the lawsuit.

"He is embarrassed and humiliated and leaves the restaurant," Milling said of his client.

The plaintiff was told a crew was filming a documentary on tourism but he never saw cameras, which were hidden in the toilet, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit makes no mention of a consent waiver and Milling said his client was not paid.

The man is seeking punitive damages and is asking that the scene not be put on DVD.

(UPDATE: This scene has since been removed from Youtube.)

I watched this movie last night. I’m not sure what I was expecting, after all, it’s being touted as the funniest movie of the year. This leads me to believe that those who are doing the reviews are of the 12-year-old boy variety.

It was funny, in the most horrifying sense of the word, although there is one scene that caused me to gouge out my eyes with a heated soupspoon. If you’ve seen the movie you’ll know which scene that was. I’m thinking of suing Borat myself for instilling an image in my brain that a lobotomy couldn’t erase! All I will say is that there was a naked, fat man involved, and there are angles of a fat man that no one, NO ONE should ever see. Thanks to Borat, I’ve now seen them all, up close and personal.

I understand why everyone in this movie is suing him. After every scene, I just kept asking myself why didn’t he get arrested? Why didn’t he get the schnit beat out of him? Especially after the rodeo scene.

And speaking of which, can anybody tell me what happened to the horse that fell over backwards behind Borat as he sang the National Anthem? I watched it twice and still couldn’t tell what caused the horse to fall. It was an odd way for a horse to fall and wasn’t even part of the main scene, nor was it caused by anything Borat was doing. The husband says someone from the audience most likely threw something at Borat and spooked the horse.

All in all it was an ok movie, certainly not the funniest I’ve seen this year, or even this month. The scenes all ended too soon, the movie would have been much more entertaining had the cameras continued to roll to capture the outcome of Borat’s outrageous behavior.

I could SO do Siskel and Ebert’s job!

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