Borat's Legalese

One car salesman was duped, but paid $150 for his time. Another allowed the star from the Ali G Show to perform "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a major rodeo in western Virginia.

Once Borat took the mike at the rodeo, he saluted President George W. Bush by saying, "May he drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq," then butchered the national anthem so badly that a horse reared up and fell over.

To set up his humorous encounters with unsuspecting Americans, Borat's producers, using fake names, make a phone call and claim to represent a phony company called One America Productions. The producers then claim to be working with "a Belarus TV station." They even give out inactive cell-phone numbers and e-mail addresses, but pay interview subjects between $150 and $400 an hour. But Borat's people are not completely sloppy--they pull out release forms, usually "just before the cameras rolled, at a moment of maximum bustle." The rest is what makes audiences laugh at the expense of the unsuspecting. Is Borat nonetheless subject to lawsuits? Some will definitely attempt to find out.

It's one of the few lessons in American life that Borat doesn't learn on screen: in this country, we sue. "I have a lawyer friend who said, 'Let me represent you! This is fraud!' " says Linda Stein, a New York-based sculptor whom Borat interviewed alongside Welch. Stein says she'll leave it alone, but she has terms. "If he invites me to the screening," she says, laughing. "And if he comes to my next gallery opening." Be careful what you wish for.