Give With One Hand, Take With The Other

While comedian Sacha Baron Cohen A.K.A. Borat came out the winner in court Monday....

The Associated Press and Nicole La Porte of Variety

The first verdict in the various legal tussles over "Borat" is in, and the winner is ... Borat.

On Monday a judge denied the request of two college fraternity brothers to have a scene in "Borat," in which they are shown drunk and making racist remarks, cut from the film. The men claim the footage has damaged their reputations.

Last month they sued 20th Century Fox and the film's producers, maintaining that they were intoxicated when they agreed to participate in the film and were falsely told that it would never be shown in the U.S.

A judge earlier denied their request to have the scene cut from the theatrical version of "Borat," but last week the plaintiffs were given another opportunity to request that the scene be cut from the "Borat" DVD.

In ruling against the duo Monday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joseph Biderman said that they failed to show a reasonable probability of success on the merits of their case or that money damages alone would be insufficient to resolve their claims.

Lawyers for the men said the unbecoming scene in "Borat" had already cost one of the men a job at a corporation and the other a prestigious internship...

There's more to the story...

Cohen's victory celebration would prove to be short-lived though, as...

"Borat" continues to be bullied.

Another lawsuit has been filed in relation to the Sacha Baron Cohen mockumentary, this time by a man in South Carolina who is suing a restaurant for allowing Cohen to film him in the restaurant's bathroom.

Scene was cut from "Borat" but aired on Comedy Central in a show promoting the movie. Clip also was posted on You Tube and Google. In the scene, Borat poses as a bathroom attendant and comments on the man's genitals.

The lawsuit, filed in a state court, asks for compensation and seeks an injunction against inclusion of the scene on any DVD release of the movie. It also asks that the footage be removed from the Internet.

The owner of the Columbia, S.C., restaurant, Fulvio Valsecchi, said he was told by the filmmakers that they were making a documentary about South Carolina tourism. He said managers did not know Cohen went into the bathroom with a camera...

...Romanian villagers have filed a $30 million lawsuit, saying they were told they were participating in a doc about poverty in Romania. And the owner of etiquette training services in Alabama has sought an investigation, saying she was similarly misled into participating in the film.

Part of me says Cohen shouldn't be shocked by all of these lawsuits--given the nature of what he does in character...But another part of me says some of these folks who were bamboozled by Cohen are using all of the exposure (and $$) as the driving factor for these lawsuits. The Frat Boys from that first story...What dinks.