Comments on: Palestinian files $110M libel suit over ‘Bruno’

By: Adrian Quir

Adrian Quir — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:06:49 +0000

It’s a mockumentary, not a documentary. If it were presented as a documentary, then scream bloody libel. Sure, Bruno is a commentary of how society can be, but that doesn’t mean it’s a freaking news source.

If you want to go after someone, go after Glen Beck and all those liars at Faux News.

By: Drewski

Drewski — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:04:37 +0000

Uhm, al-Aqsa is a MUSLIM organization. If there’s one thing you can count on in Palestine, it is that people are acutely aware of who belongs to which religion. As it happens, there’s a sizable Palestinian population in Cleveland, and the first wave of them were Christians who were essentially pushed out because the Jews and Muslims didn’t want them as an obstacle to their eternal squabbling. So Israel knows he’s not a terrorist, and the various Muslim factions know he’s not one of them, and the remaining Palestinian Christians know him from his presence as a businessman, not a bomb-toting hothead. I can see the argument for a lawsuit based on harm done to his reputation, but where is the actual harm? This article provides no specific examples of actual damage–harassment, threats, broken shop windows, vandalism of his home, threats to his family. None of this is present in this article.

By: Morgan

Morgan — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:47:09 +0000

Being gay in some conservative Middle Eastern lands like Saudi Arabia or Iran can be your death sentence. You cannot be gay in Palestinian Arab territory without possible harm to yourself. Why are gay Palestinian Arabs trying to flee to Israel? for that reason. This shopping has much to fear from his own society if thought gay even if he isn’t. Being gay in the Middle East is much different from being gay in say Iceland, Norway, Sweden or Denmark, etc. I support this angry lawsuit from this Palestinian man.

By: DaveW

DaveW — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:22:32 +0000

haveaniceday: I think you should remember this was a movie…a comedy. Yes, movies are a “medium” but generally your comment is read to mean the media involved in journalism. I agree with your comment regardless.

I did not see either movie, I rarely watch comedies and never those targeted at the lowest common denominator. The trailers for Borat made it clear I would not find it funny and the hype around this latest attempt informed me not only would I not laugh, I’d likely be insulted.

But I did listen to Terry Gross interview him, and I was appalled at the tactics. His producers lied to get influential people to sit for interviews and then lampooned them. This is beyond “candid camera”, which I always found in incredible poor taste, because he is not merely setting up a situation and seeing what happens, he is misleading people into thinking they are doing something totally different.

If that is what it takes to make humor, I’m not interested. Mr. Cohen did not say in the interview that he was trying to get at some universal truth, he was trying to make good humor.

It says a lot about our society that this junk is considered just that, because it is not. The ends do not justify the means (especially if the ends are never achieved) and labelling a real person..a christian no less, as a member of the al Aqsa martyrs brigade is indeed libelous in my opinion.

By: 00HaveAniceDay00

00HaveAniceDay00 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:53:51 +0000

Good ! I hope this guy wins. It really bothers me when the media portrays gay people in this manner. When are they going to portray being as gay as cool and not so stereotypical?