Media & Entertainment Law

?Da Ali G Show? star Sacha Baron Cohen puts one in the win column. Libel case dismissed.

By Gordon Firemark

“Borat” and “Bruno” star  Sacha Baron Cohen” is no stranger to lawsuits alleging defamation, but this week he  scored a victory in a suit filed by a woman (identified as “jane doe”,  who  alleged that she was defamed in an interview with Gore Vidal on “Da Ali G Show”.

According to the Judge in the case:

No reasonable person could consider the statements made by Ali G on the program to be factual. To the contrary, it is obvious that the Ali G character is absurd, and all his statements are gibberish and intended as comedy. The actor, Sacha Baron Cohen, never strays from the Ali G character, who is dressed in a ridiculous outfit and speaks in the exaggerated manner of a rap artist. Ali G?s statements are similarly absurd. For example, prior to the reference to Plaintiff, while ?interviewing? the author Gore Vidal, Ali G refers to the Constitution of the United States as having been written on two tablets, clearly intended to confuse the Constitution with the Ten Commandments. Altogether, the program is obviously a spoof of a serious interview program. No reasonable person could think otherwise.

Full post as published by Entertainment Law Update on April 24, 2009 (boomark / email).