The round of lawsuits filed includes complaints from two of the three college students who supposedly pick up Borat as he is hitchhiking. These students, members of the Chi Psi fraternity at a South Carolina university, were shown making demeaning comments about women and minorities while heavily under the influence of alcohol. They are now claiming that they “engaged in behavior that they otherwise would not have engaged in,” and that they were assured the film would only be shown outside of the U.S. In other words, they made fools of themselves while drunk and hoped that no one they knew would catch them in the act. It would apparently only be acceptable if other countries saw them being sexist and racist.

While they may have said and done inappropriate things, they were not forced to commit these acts, and despite what they allege, they could not have been “duped” into making themselves drunk. This is a classic case of jokes getting a bit too out of hand, and the people not wanting to admit they went too far. They aren’t the first people to act like idiots under the influence, and they certainly will not be the last. They should not, however, be trying to take advantage of Baron Cohen’s success from the film. The material that he shot is by all means his to use in the film, especially since his subjects were acting in a public place and signed release forms for the content to be used. Rather than waiting for the material that portrays them as racist or sexist to be distributed, these men should have taken time to think about what they were doing and saying and then realized it was inappropriate, regardless of who the audience would be. Ultimately, people need to take responsibility for their actions, and think things through before making themselves look ignorant.