Judge throws out businessman’s lawsuit over ‘Borat’ footage
Published 10:57 pm Wednesday, April 2, 2008
NEW YORK — A judge has tossed out a defamation lawsuit brought by a businessman shown in the movie “Borat” as he is chased down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.
The 2006 hit, starring Cohen as a crass Kazakhstan journalist, can be deemed “newsworthy,” defined in its most liberal and far-reaching terms, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska said.
New York civil rights law provides limited protection for any person whose image is used for advertising or trade purposes without written consent, she said, and the nonconsensual use of a person’s image to depict newsworthy events or matters of public interest is exempt from the law.
The lawsuit sought unspecified damages from the movie’s producer, Twentieth Century Fox, for Jeffrey Lemerond, who claimed he was humiliated when the Borat character tried to catch him.
In the movie, Lemerond, a financial analyst, is shown running and yelling “Go away!” as Borat chases him in an attempt to hug strangers.
The judge conceded that the movie “employs as its chief medium a brand of humor that appeals to the most childish and vulgar in its viewers.” But she said the movie also attempts an ironic commentary.
Lemerond’s lawyer Eric Hecker said the ruling would be appealed.
