It was inevitable. After virtually everyone involved in Borat filed a lawsuit against the makers of the film for being made to look like an idiot, the producers of Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest flick, Bruno, must have been prepared for an avalanche of litigation, largely from people looking to make a quick buck. With Bruno following a similar pseudo-documentary approach, but this time with Baron Cohen exposing homophobia among the American populace, you can bet plenty of people will be wanting to go to court.
However while the Borat litigants generally waited until the film was out, a lawsuit has already been filed against the makers of Bruno, although if what the woman is claiming is true, she may have a case. Rather than suing over a bruised ego, the woman is claiming to have been left diabled after an incident that occurred during the filming of a bingo scene for the movie, and that since then she’s needed a cane or wheelchair to move around.
She alleges Baron Cohen and his crew got into the tournament under false pretences, started using vulgarities and then tried to goad her into giving them an extreme emotional response. She claims to have later become very upset and fallen to the floor, hitting her head on a concrete slab and suffered bleeding in her brain. It doesn’t appear the film crew was present when the actual major incident occurred, but she is saying that it was their fault because it wouldn’t have happened if they hadn’t caused her emotional distress.
The makers of Bruno have yet to comment on the lawsuit, although we’re willing to bet there’ll be plenty more litigation to come from others who Bruno makes a fool of.