Dubai Debt Issues Push Stocks Down
Family Gets Early Christmas Gift From Ellen DeGeneres
Photos of D Train Murder Depict Bloody Panic
Stuy Pyro Leaves Notes In Hieroglyphics
Mayor: Sex Trafficking Victims, Please Speak Up
After watching Borat, we wondered which parts of the movie were real and which were staged. We may never know, but now it seems the part where the frat boys pick up a hitchhiking Borat was semi-staged, as the two of the three are suing to stop the movie from showing their images as well as unspecified monetary damages. The fraternity brothers, who have since left or graduated from University of South Carolina, say that they were tricked into participating.
From South Carolina Paper, The State:
The lawsuit claims that in October 2005, a production crew took the students to a bar to drink and “loosen up” before participating in what they were told would be a documentary to be shown outside the United States.The complaint also states, "The funny part is when we, the audience, see how these individuals react to him...The problem, however, is that its success rests on the backs of unsuspecting players. This lawsuit seeks to remedy that." Aw, so they weren't acting like frat boys?“They were induced to agree to participate and were told the name of the fraternity and the name of their school wouldn’t be used,” said the plaintiffs’ attorney, Olivier Taillieu. “They were put into an RV and were made to believe they were picking up Borat the hitchhiker.”
After a bout of heavy drinking, the plaintiffs signed a release form they were told “had something to do with reliability issues with being in the RV,” Taillieu said.
The frat brother who does not seem to be suing, David Corcoran, said earlier, "My first thought was, 'What if my mom finds out?'" All in all, they didn't come off that terribly (in fact, they were sort of sweet when Borat was crying), but maybe we have low expectations of drunk frat boys.
We haven't heard about subway riders upset with their portrayal, though some other people are upset. USA Today looked at what the reactions of various Borat participants were with lots of links to other articles, including the Downtown Express first-person account from a New York artist who appeared in the feminists segment. Unfortunately we do no know what happened to the bear who played Oksana.
We love you, Oksana the bear.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Thanks for posting that USA Today article...I was wondering what the people in the movie thought of it.
I wondered if anyone had posted "Someone let a chicken loose on the subway this morning!" on Gothamist Contribute when it happened.
Salon.com currently has an article on the subject "which parts were real", which is quite thorough and detailed (and rather entertaining).
Yeah, I guess "they didn't come off that terribly", especially if you are a supporter of bringing back slavery and making sure that those pesky minorities stop getting all the good jobs. How sweet!
They didn't come off that terrible? Seriously? It was the only scene in the movie where people weren't laughing in the theater because people were shocked at what the kids were saying.
This scene was horrifyingly not funny---it was up there with the scene at the rodeo with the man who talked about killing all the gays. Reminds me why I don't want to go south of the Mason-Dixon line.
What was said.... I'm dying to know because I don't want to take my little brother if it is too bad? Thank you
That was a crazy scene, and it was frightening that these guys were so willing to spew out their nasty thoughts. Meredith...they basically go on about how "Holes" (in ref to women) and that "the Bitches" deserve to get "f****d and left because they don't deserve respect"...and how women ought to be slaves... etc..really nasty nasty sexist stuff, and they are very gleeful about it. Then they talk about how minorities run the country. Personally, I think these guys are complete turds. No one forced them to say that and no one made them get drunk. How old is your little brother? Over here, this film got an age restriction of 18, probably because of all the penises and male nudity, but in my view, those were not at all scary or upsetting - just crass. It's the real life, horrible opinions being expressed by real people that make the film a horror.