Sacha Baron Cohen has sued a Massachusetts cannabis company for $9 million, claiming it used his photo on a billboard advertisement without his permission.
An image of the billboard made available by The Wrap shows Baron Cohen's movie character, Borat, giving a thumbs up. Above him appears the Borat-coined phrase, "It's nice," and below him are the words "Happy 4/20," a reference to the marijuana holiday.
"This is an action for willful copyright infringement, false advertising, and violation of the Massachusetts statute against misappropriation of rights of publicity," the lawsuit states, according to The Wrap. "Without permission of any kind, the Defendants deliberately featured the portrait, picture, image, likeness, and persona of Mr. Baron Cohen and his 'Borat' movie character in a commercial billboard (the “Billboard”) on a busy interstate highway in Massachusetts, to advertise the sale of the Defendants’ cannabis products."
The company named as the defendant, Solar Therapeutics Inc., has not commented on the lawsuit, which further states that Baron Cohen does not use cannabis because "he does not believe it is a healthy choice."
"Moreover, the sale and distribution of cannabis remains a federal crime everywhere in the United States, including Massachusetts," the legal document continues. "United States citizens continue to be prosecuted and imprisoned by federal law enforcement agents and courts for selling or using the products that the Defendants are advertising and selling. Most recently, this year the Biden Administration terminated a number of White House staffers simply because they once used cannabis."
The lawsuit states that, for these reasons, cannabis remains a "controversial product that Mr. Baron Cohen has no interest in endorsing, promoting, or advertising."
"He would be appalled if his young children were to discover, mistakenly or otherwise, that he was associated with the promotion of cannabis," it further reads.
The complaint noted that Baron Cohen spent the bulk of his career mocking the "stoner culture," which Solar Therapeutics "overtly celebrates," according to The Hollywood Reporter. Additionally, it notes that Baron Cohen was born into an Orthodox Jewish family, is an observant Jew, and is proud of his cultural heritage.
"He does not wish to be involved in the heated controversy among the Orthodox Jewish community about whether cannabis can be used under Jewish traditions, customs, and rules."
Baron Cohen is seeking is trebled statutory damages as well as actual and punitive damages and disgorgement of profits attributable to the billboard, according to The Holywood Reporter.
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