It’s all fun and games until someone gets confined to a wheelchair — which is exactly what one woman is claiming after she was allegedly attacked and left “crippled” by Sacha Baron Cohen (as Bruno) at a Bingo hall in 2007.
Richelle Olson has sued Cohen, NBC Universal and others claiming they told her Bruno was a celeb and would appear and call numbers at the charity bingo game she ran for the elderly in Palmdale, CA. Olson was none too happy when she saw Bruno, whom she describes as an “extreme, outrageous, offensive caricature of a gay man dressed in sexually revealing clothing with an Austrian accent…”
Olson alleges Bruno used “vulgar and offensive language” and when she tried taking the mic from him, a “physical struggle ensued” and Cohen “offensively touched, pushed and battered” her, causing her to fall to the ground.
She then claims three cameramen and others rushed the stage … “where defendants attacked [her] for a period of one to five minutes to intentionally create a dramatic emotional response … while [they] recorded her humiliation and embarrassment.”
After the alleged assault was over, the suit says Olson went into another room where she was “sobbing uncontrollably” … then was rendered unconscious … “falling forward onto the thinly covered concrete slab, passing out and causing her to hit her head.”
The suit says Olson was rushed to the hospital with a “diagnosis of two brain bleeds” — and that she has been confined to a wheelchair and walker ever since.
Olson — the Executive Director of Desert Valley Charities — and her husband are suing for unspecified damages, including loss of marital relations.
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:05 pm
First. This woman is insane. She deserved it for reacting that way.
June 3rd, 2009 at 4:15 pm
NICE TIMING TO PUT IN A LAWSUIT….$$$$$ GO BRUNO GO..FORZA ITALIA
June 4th, 2009 at 11:06 am
sorry but thats bruno for you
she should put up or shut up
yes she got injured and was humiliated but it was only a bit of fun
to which she overreacted
June 4th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
First off, she physically assaulted him for trying to take the mic
Then she doesn’t realize the movie producers have FULL LENGTH FOOTAGE of what happened
And lastly he did cause he to pass out and whatever happened after that…
The same exact thing happened with Sacha’s movie “BORAT”
When Kazahkstan was suing him etc…
People’s greed for money is unquenchable and their ignorance truly is bliss.
-Philip Han
June 5th, 2009 at 3:06 am
that chick is a homo hater shes old anyways tell that ho bag she can live the dream of playing bingo and eating jello for the rest of her life still
June 5th, 2009 at 5:40 am
How can you people defend him? He took his joking too far. I am a huge Cohen fan, but it seems in this case he took it to an unneeded extreme.
Nobody “deserves” to be left in a wheel chair after fainting and cracking their head on concrete. And to say it is okay to hurt her, for just “a bit of fun” is horrible. And how can anyone say she attacked him by trying to take a mic away? That is not an attack, that was just the lady trying to control an out of control situation. What is an attack is to push an elderly lady to the ground.
Cohen’s Bruno character is very offensive, not because he is trying to represent a gay man to record peoples’ reactions, but because he is doing so in a way that is mocking to homosexuals. It is modern day blackface.
June 6th, 2009 at 1:15 am
I fully agree with you Cat.
June 6th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Someone is thinking one could get some money from Cohen.
Such a strange Complaint would not even be considered where i live.
June 7th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
When I was a kid I threw a tennis ball at a moving BMW, then the guy went down the street and got out of his car, and slammed his door. He finally tracked me down, but my friends had given him a fake name and address, so I just lied it up. Anyway, he was accusing me of damages to his seat belt clasp, caused by him slamming the door on it after he got out of the car. This is the same thing this lady is trying to pull. Sorry, there is no law to protect you from your own provoked actions. Lrn2Control urself.
June 8th, 2009 at 2:24 am
It’s all been filmed, so the TRUTH WILL PREVAIL.
June 10th, 2009 at 8:46 am
I understand her need to feel that justice has been served, but it seems a bit implausible that Sacha’s film crew would start beating this woman. I’m with Booboo, everything will come out when the tapes are introduced as evidence…hopefully the judge will allow counsel to introduce them as evidence! I’d like to get a hold of the footage myself. Regardless, it does place a black cloud over the film for the time being. That being said, I can’t wait to see it on July 10th!
June 10th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
wow….. I guess people can really sue for anything. I don’t see this standing up in court though because she ran into another room where she supposedly fainted and hit her head. I don’t see how her hitting her head after the fact can be blamed on him. I could see if he pushed her and then she hit her head but that is not what happened.
June 11th, 2009 at 7:04 am
I think she should sue him! Sacha Baron Cohen is way funnier than Bruno, he shouldnt even let this Bruno guy be in hiz film. He should have got borat to shave his mustash and play the part for the film. THat being said i am going to watch this film… but it doesnt mean i approve of the acturs!!!!!
June 16th, 2009 at 6:34 am
Cat you need to just shut up. the king your a moron. It’s a damn movie. This is the same thing about when borat was at the driving school. the same thing with the guy running away from him in the city. LMAO funny times.