Opinion: A Million Little Feces: Bamboozled by <i>Borat</i> baggy, miffed manners maven flings poo at Fox poobahs

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It seems like it was just this morning that everybody except a couple of hoodwinked frat boys was enjoying Sacha Baron Cohen’s gotcha antics. Now, however, Cindy Streit, the unflappable owner of an Alabama etiquette business whom Cohen tricked by handing her a bag of what he claimed was his own excrement, is joining the ranks of peeved patsies who object to their unwitting roles in the fake Kazakumentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

I haven’t seen Borat, but from what I understand Streit comes across as one of the more likable victims of Cohen’s antics. That is, faced with a situation that is impossible to escape with any dignity, she keeps a good face and soldiers on, discreetly disposing of his poop bag. This is pretty much the only way to come out well in the Borat/Ali G. test: You can’t really win, but you can handle it with aplomb. Having done so, however, Streit is now complaining, like the frat guys, that she was tricked not only by Borat but by the permission form that didn’t make clear she would be appearing in a wide-release American film. The Camellia State hostess has asked California Attorney General Bill Lockyer to investigate the filmmakers for unfair business practices.

Fox will supposedly be filing the consent waivers in court on Monday. It will be interesting to see whether the text of the agreement will be airtight enough to stand up against what seem to have been highly deceptive verbal discussions between the filmmakers and the participants. In any event Streit makes the most sympathetic plaintiff so far: I caught her press conference on CNN earlier, and when some reporter asked whether other people might laugh at her predicament, she hesitated for a moment, gathered her thoughts, and graciously replied, ‘It’s not for me to judge what other people might find funny.’ Class to the end!