Actor Sacha Baron Cohen drops lawsuit over ‘Borat’ marijuana billboard

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Actor Sacha Baron Cohen dropped a lawsuit against Massachusetts marijuana cultivator and retailer Solar Therapeutics, which featured his popular “Borat” character on a highway billboard without permission.

Baron Cohen sued Solar Therapeutics and its CEO over the billboard in July 2021, seeking at least $9 million in damages.

The highway billboard showed Baron Cohen’s Borat Sagdiyev character – a fictional Kazakh journalist who appears in Cohen’s Da Ali G Show TV series and two subsequent feature films – giving a thumbs-up gesture alongside the phrase, “It’s Nice,” and Solar Therapeutics’ logo.

Somerset, Massachusetts-based Solar Therapeutics removed the billboard after receiving a cease-and-desist order from Baron Cohen’s lawyer.

But the original legal complaint argued that Baron Cohen was not compensated for the use of his image and that he did not want to endorse marijuana.

According to a Tuesday court filing in Boston, the Associated Press reported, both sides agreed to dismiss the case, although a settlement was not mentioned.

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The court filing notes that the complaint was dismissed with prejudice and without costs.

Solar Therapeutics did not respond to a request for comment from MJBizDaily.