9 Famous Films Which Were Plagued By Ugly Lawsuits

7. Borat (2006)

A Kazakh journalist called Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) travels to the US and runs into a lot of people in humorous vignettes. Many of the encounters are filmed unscripted with people really believing he is a befuddled foreigner. Borat has run into significant legal problems. A Romanian village tried to sue the film, claiming it depicted them as stupid and incestuous. This action failed. A group of South Caroline frat boys also sought damages for defamation and an injunction against the release of the DVD. This action failed too. For a while it seemed like the whole world and his wife were going to sue the film's makers for something. The charges were all thrown out - a driving instructor claimed he had been duped by the film makers - this was dismissed. A man who ran down the street shouting 'Go away!' as Borat hugged strangers on a New York Street sued for humiliation and embarrassment, but the charges were thrown out. It is possible to feel sorry for people being hoodwinked by Sacha Baron Cohen's alter ego Borat and made to look like idiots but ultimately you have to look at the overall humour of the film. I don't think it is a crime to portray nationalities as being stereotyped or acting in a certain way. There is a little bit of truth to stereotypes, I don't care how un-PC that sounds but where there is smoke there is fire. If people got uptight about being stereotyped, there would be an avalanche of stupid lawsuits. The courts would be full of them and artistic expression would be severely compromised.