Five want damages for'humiliation'

This time five Alabama residents who allowed Sacha Baron Cohen to dine in their sumptuous Southern home are suing over their portrayal.

Cohen shocked the quintet over dinner in October 2005 by referring to one man as a ‘retard’, wondering if his hosts own slaves, and bringing a plastic bag apparently containing his own shit back from the toilet. The party broke up when a large, black prostitute called round at the invitation of 'Borat'

The hosts have now filed a lawsuit complaining that they were duped into appearing in what they thought was an educational documentary for Belarus television, but which turned out to be a film which they say 'celebrated racism, child pornography, sexism, nudity, anti-semitism and vulgarity'.

According to court documents filed in Birmingham, Alabama, and published on The Smoking Gun website, the movie-makers set out to show the dinner-party hosts as ‘racially intolerant’.

The document claims they were subject to ‘mockery, humiliation, and degradation’ and seeks unspecified damage for emotional distress, misrepresentation and invasion of privacy.

They also want an injunction to cut the scene from any future distribution of the film, which was released last year and has grossed $228million worldwide.

The five signed a consent form for footage to be used, but claim the agreement is invalid as they were tricked into signing it.

Published: 24 Oct 2007