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NEW YORK - The creators of the hit film Borat are being sued again, this time by a driving instructor seen in the comedy admonishing the fake Kazakh reporter for yelling insults at other drivers.
Michael Psenicska was duped into participating in the film after it was described to him as a "documentary about the integration of foreign people into the American way of life," he said in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court.
The suit named British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays the title role, One America Productions and Twentieth Century Fox Film. It also named Todd Lewis, a representative of One America who is listed in other lawsuits as Todd Lewis Schulman.
Psenicska said he was paid US$500 in cash to give Borat a driving lesson. He described the experience as "surreal," saying Cohen drove erratically down residential streets, drank alcohol and yelled to a female pedestrian he would pay her US$10 for "sexy time."
The lawsuit seeks US$400,000 in actual damages and additional punitive damages for misleading Psenicska and for emotional harm he continues to suffer. Psenicska said if he had known the true nature of the film, he never would have participated.
The comedy has grossed US$270 million plus more than US$60 million in DVD sales, the lawsuit said.
A spokesman for Twentieth Century Fox was not available for comment but the company has responded to previous lawsuits involving "Borat" by saying free-speech law protects films and literary works that are "matters of interest to the public."
Borat has been sued at least four times already.
In June, a man seen in the film running away from Borat down the streets of New York City sued Twentieth Century Fox in federal court in Manhattan.
In February, a judge threw out a lawsuit brought in Los Angeles Superior Court by two college fraternity members shown guzzling alcohol and making racist remarks. They claimed the scenes tarnished their reputations.
Last year, two residents of a Romanian village sued Twentieth Century Fox for US$30 million, claiming the film wrongly depicted them as rapists, abortionists, prostitutes and thieves. Scenes depicting Borat in Kazakhstan were filmed in Romania.
A South Carolina man also sued over a deleted scene.
- REUTERS
