Sacha Baron Cohen is currently suing the legal weed company for $ 9 million over borate advertising

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Sacha Baron Cohen is suing a cannabis company for allegedly using one of his favorite movie characters to promote their wares.

The actor and comedian is suing Massachusetts-licensed medical marijuana company Solar Therapeutics for allegedly running a billboard ad with a picture of Baron Cohen in his role as Borat. The court documents allege that the company “intentionally displayed the portrait, image, likeness, likeness, and person of Mr. Baron Cohen and his’ Borat” character in a billboard … on a busy Massachusetts freeway. . without any permission. “

“The defendants have used, without permission, distinctive attributes of Baron Cohen’s portrait, image, identity, and likeness by showing the billboard with a picture of Borat holding two thumbs up in the exact and varied poses Borat used in the Borat films The phrase “It’s Nice!” refers to the Borat catchphrase “Nice”, which is often used by Borat, ”says the lawsuit.

The decision to use borate in an advertisement for cannabis is an especially bad move since Baron Cohen totally hates weed. The court documents state that the actor “has never used cannabis in his life” because “he doesn’t think it’s a healthy choice”. The lawsuit further states that, in his starring role on the Da Ali G Show on HBO, Baron Cohen “has spent much of his career mocking the ‘stoner’ culture”.

And Baron Cohen doesn’t just hate weed, he hates advertising in general. The actor has turned down countless opportunities to license his name or characters to promote commercial products and even turned down a $ 4 million offer for a car advertisement. The court documents stated that he would “never take part in any cannabis advertising campaign for any amount of money” and “would be appalled if his young children, mistakenly or otherwise, discovered that he was connected to cannabis advertising. ”

The lawsuit requires the court to issue an injunction preventing Solar Therapeutics from using the Baron Cohen image in current or future advertisements. The lawsuit also seeks financial compensation of “at least $ 9 million” to compensate for the damage caused by the misappropriation.

This is definitely not the first time a celebrity has sued a cannabis company for illegally using their image in advertisements. Last year, Clint Eastwood sued nearly two dozen companies for promoting their products using his name and spreading fake news claiming he was leaving the movie business to focus on CBD.

Shady CBD companies have also been caught promoting fake recommendations from Tom Hanks, Dr. Oz, David Attenborough and even popular ministers like Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen used them to promote their products.