'09
A man portrayed as an angry terrorist in the shockumentary Bruno is suing filmmaker Sacha Baron Cohen, David Letterman, and NBC. Ayman Abu Aita runs a supermarket in Bethlehem and says he’s a Christian guy with a wife and two kids and isn’t a terrorist at all. He’s a Palestinian peace activist who responded to a request for an interview with what he was told was a German documentary filmmaker. Instead, he met with gay caricature Bruno and became an unwilling subject in what he considers an offensive movie. He was portrayed as the leader of a terrorist group and his reputation in his community suffered. They even used his real full name in the movie:
Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, the actor behind the flamboyant character Bruno, is being sued for $114 million in libel damages, reports the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
Ayman Abu Aita, a Palestinian grocer and peace activist, says that the box office hit, “Bruno,” has ruined his life. In the film, Abu Aita travels with Bruno, a gay fashion journalist, to the Ein El-Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon to meet with a leader there. A caption that appears during the scene describes Abu Aita as a “Terrorist group leader, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.”
Since the film’s release, Abu Aita says he has received death threats and that he was originally tricked into meeting Baron Cohen in the first place. He claims he thought Baron Cohen was a German producing a film about Palestinians — not an actor making a comedy, reports Britain’s Daily Mail.
Abu Aita alleges that when Baron Cohen spoke with David Letterman on TV last year, he said he had found a “real terrorist” through a contact at the CIA.
He is suing NBC Universal, Letterman and Baron Cohen. “Bruno” has grossed about $137 million worldwide since it’s release in July.
[From The NY Daily News]
The thing that bothers me is that in an appearance on Letterman (link leads to video) Baron Cohen told the story about finding a “real” terrorist to interview as if the whole thing went down just as it looked on film. He said that he used CIA contacts to find a member of the “Al-Axa Martyrs Brigade, the number one suicide bombers out there,” that he had to agree to meet the guy at an undisclosed location, and that the situation was so dangerous he had trouble securing a willing bodyguard. If this guy’s story is to be believed, Baron Cohen just found an average guy with ties to Palestinian rights groups, met him at a public restaurant, and then duped him into appearing in the film.
In an interview with NPR’s Fresh Air, Larry Charles, the director of Bruno and Borat, explained their approach. “A lot of this comedy is about putting people, hopefully who are good targets, in uncomfortable situations.” Not all of the people are good targets and many eventually fight back. This is the second lawsuit against Bruno. The first was by a woman who claims she was left permanently disabled after a scuffle with Bruno filmmakers at a Palmdale, CA bingo game. Baron’s earlier film Borat was the subject of at least seven lawsuits from the people who appeared in the film.
It’s unlikely that Baron Cohen will get the chance to offend more people in character. He told NPR that he’s too well recognized now and that it’s too dangerous for him. “Basically its impossible to do now. Its too well known as a genre, and its just too hard to get people not to recognize me. And also I think I was lucky as a performer in Borat and Bruno that I didnt get permanently hurt.” It’s not just Baron Cohen who can get hurt by his performances.
An Interview with Ayman Abu Aita is below. Here’s a link to a press conference announcing this lawsuit.
Sacha Baron Cohen is shown outside the Late Show as Bruno on 7/9/09. He appeared on the show as himself, not as one of his alter egos. Credit: WENN.com
Written by Celebitchy
Posted in Bruno, Lawsuits, Sacha Baron Cohen
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17 Responses to ““Terrorist” in Bruno sues Sacha Baron Cohen, says he’s a peace activist”
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I’m actually surprised that they haven’t tried to pay this guy off already. I remember the poor man trying to clear his name when Bruno first came out in the theaters.
I also remember Bruno’s story on Letterman. I thought he was full of it then, but since Abu Aita told his story, I call total BS on Cohen’s version of events.
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I’ve always thought Cohen was completely genius. If this is all true and he still went on to say those things on letterman, I’ll be totally disgusted. I’m gonna wait and see.
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In Israel, the government regards being a Palestinian “peace activist” is near as dammit someone who is linked to terrorism. Now don’t get me wrong, I most assuredly am not one of those deluded types which sees Israel as the big imperial ogre out to eradicate Palestine. But it doesn’t alter the fact that Israel does not play fair where Gaza and the West Bank are concerned, and will regularly forbid entry by the UN and international politicans who wish to monitor the situation there.
So I do wonder if SBC is allowing his own personal prejudices influence how he’s presenting information about other people to the world, especially those from a different political and religious background. His treatment of the man in the film was appalling, basically stating that the man in question was a supporter of Osama bin Laden.
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Ya know. This is really crossing the line. As a Jewish man, Cohen should know that.
The situation in Israel/Palestine right now is not a joke. It’s not good to play with. This is an honest man who wants to live an honest life and is now recieving death threats. And let me clue you in on death threats in a region like that: they arn’t fucking funny.
I grew up in the Middle East (In Syria and Jordan). My best friend is Israeli Jew. And it is not an easy relationship even with all of our similar views. We still have to contend with racist members of both her and my family. Ya know? This is a real-life problem.
And even worse this is going to look terrible for other Palestinians. I mean, they are a dirt poor people. And they are struggling. To see a member doing well only to be mocked by a very wealthy Jew? I’m not saying that I personally feel he’s mocking him because of the Arab status. But, as I said, in that region people dont mess around. They will.
I really, really do not want to turn this comment section into an Israeli/Palestine thing. Okay. I really dont because, look, I’ve lived it. And quite frankly, if you’re not talking about a solution you’re talking in circles.
No, this is about an actor who prayed upon an innocent shopkeeper who had already dealt with his fare share of discrimination. And now this?
For those that don’t understand the weight: being called a terrorist in that region of the world can result in your death, your incarceration and your torture. It’s not like America. Allegations like this can ruin your life.
Just terrible taste. Terrible. I hope he milks Cohen dry.
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Cohen is a classless pig, no matter how much money he has.
This is a man who found Isla Fisher fit enough to impregnate, but then not marry her because she isn’t Jewish.
What can we expect from Cohen but trash like this?
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i love SBC, but he does need to give that guy some $
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@Filthycute- aren’t they engaged? I thought I had read where she converted to Judaism ?
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I thought she converted as well. If this man is saying he is a Christain than he probably is. It is not easy to live in the Middle East as a Christian. I like SBC movies,but I don’t like people being dupped.
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I just saw this film recently and was totally unprepared for the sex scenes. I found them to be totally offensive. The funny thing is, a week prior I saw Antichrist and that film had warnings as well as a rating of M. Anyway, I found Bruno to be much more offensive then Antichrist, and without any warnings. BTW, Antichrist was actually a great film.
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I think she’s either already converted, or in the process of converting, and they’re engaged.
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Many have tried to sue SBC, and all have failed. That’s because there is
always an army of studio lawyers checking over SBC’s work before it is released. If Abu AIta made it into the film, he not only signed a release, but the CIA did supply SBC and the studio with proof he was a terrorist. Otherwise, SBC and the studio would not have exposed themselves to a huge and predictable lawsuit. As to the Isla Fisher situation, Isla appears to have converted before concceiving her child if what she said in Allure was true. That makes both Isla and the child Jewish. I would not assume that Sacha impregnated her and then refused to marry her because she was not Jewish, as filthy cute thinks. It really doesn’t fit the facts. They’ve been together over seven years. I’d be more likely to think that she converted and got pregnant to either to hurry up the marriage or just to have a child before she had to do in vitro like her buddy Courtney Cox of miss the boat like Jennifer Aniston.
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Peach,
That was a fair and warm position you took.
Ayman Abu Aita deserves to be heard. And the Palestinians deserve to not be made a joke of while they are in such absolute poverty and suppression.
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That totally does not make sense. Why the f would the CIA respond to SBC’s request for a suspected terrorist to interview? I certainly hope that’s false, because the CIA has better things to do (say, keeping America safe) than to help make more H’wood smut movies.
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The CIA did no such thing. A couple of agents, or even desk jockies taking kick-backs to supply information (don’t we usually call them spies?) is quite a different proposition from an officially-sanctioned release by the CIA. And let’s pretend we live in cloud-cuckoo-land for a moment and assume that the CIA as an organisation agreed to help this pisstake, they would have to make sure that whoever they supply information on would not pose a threat to current operations, so whoever they picked on would be pretty benign at this point.
Nor do i think the production company wouldn’t have put themselves or SBC into that much danger, so on paper, someone like this is perfect a political activist who served time for resisting Israel.
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SBC’s agent is Ari Emmanuel, the brother of Rahm Emmanuel of the Obama administration. I would assume that an official, but not secret, list of terrorists was obtained through that channel as well as some suggestions as to safe areas to meet, etc. I find it unlikely that either the CIA claim or terrorist claim would have been made if they won’t hold up in court because, according to his interviews, SBC and the studio perpare for that ahead of time. I also have read that Abu Aita is a Fatah party member. The Al Asqa Martyr’s Brigade is reported to be their military wing. SBC’s comments on Letterman and in the film were probably somewhat over-dramatic but not legally libelous or overtly false. If he is sued, SBC will win.
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@Anon
If Rahm Emmanuel (seated closely to the President) has anything to do with something this disgusting and COMMERCIAL, he should resign immediately.
Thank you Anon for making the argument for me that a member of our direct President’s staff might be helping this charade along to aid another country ( Israel) that is NOT America through comedy and propaganda.
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Hi Yae,
I’m just supposing about Rahm Emanuel, but even if he did help out with this, that doesn’t mean he did anything illegal or improper that would warrant his resigning. My DH used to work for the government, so I know that most government agencies have PR/media departments. If the Obama administration was involved, I would guess that a request came from Ari Emanuel through his brother Rahm who expedited it through the proper channels of the buireaucratic office that handles media requests. There’s nothing weird or conspiratorial about it.
It’s nothing new that the media gets involved with the government. During World War II, loads of movies supported the war effort or promoted the sale of war bonds. You can even find cartoons where Bugs Bunny slaps Hitler and Mussolini. If the CIA did indeed help out with this, it was because we are involved in a “war on terrorism,” and it felt that it wanted a little media help.
I’m also confused as to whether you disapprove of the US helping any country that is not America or just Israel. American foreign policy is strongly based in helping other countries,including not just Israel but the Palestinian Authority as well. It’s what we’ve doing since the end of World War II.
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