A man from South Carolina has placed a lawsuit against the film's producers for being humiliated by the spoof Kazakh journalist in a restaurant's bathroom.
- December 14, 2006
AceShowbiz -
Just when everything begins to turn better for "Borat" following the flick's attainment in being one of AFI's Movies of the Year while bringing its lead star Sacha Baron Cohen to win Best Actor honor at both LAFCA and SFFCC Awards, a new lawsuit awaits ahead for the film's producers to face in the court.
A South Carolina man is reported to have taken a legal action against the producers claiming that he was "embarrassed and humiliated" during a visit at a local restaurant named Ristorante Divino in October 2005 as the spoof Kazakh journalist, played by Cohen, both intentionally stared at and commented on his genitals when they were in the restaurant's bathroom.
Though footage of the incident was ultimately cut from the theatrical release, the clip, to the man's horror, later was posted on the YouTube while also being shown on Comedy Central, causing him get regularly recognized as having been victimized by the British comic which thus led to his decision to sue both the restaurant and the film's production company 20th Century Fox besides seeking compensation and an injunction blocking filmmakers from including the scene on the film's DVD release and removal of the clip from Internet sites.
Regarding the matter, the restaurant owner Fulvio Valsecchi admitted that he was unaware that hidden cameras had been placed in the restrooms, saying that he did not have any suspicions when permitting the crew to undergo shooting inside his building since he was told that they were making a documentary about South Carolina tourism.
