UniversalAt this rate, Brüno must think he's the one getting punk'd.
Yet again, the target of one of Sacha Baron Cohen's practical jokes is attempting to laugh all the way to the bank with the prankster's dough.
First, Richelle Olson sued the self-proclaimed fashionista for a bingo-based beatdown. Now she's singing a different tune and accusing him of wheelchair-binding "emotional distress."
We wish we were joking...
Initially, Olson claimed the Brüno film crew told her the Austrian was a celeb and would attend her 2007 charity bingo game in Palmdale, Calif., to call numbers. The person who showed up—the flamboyant and outrageous fashion diva—was not who she expected or wanted.
Olson claimed Cohen caused a big disturbance during the number calls and the comedian got into a physical altercation with her when she tried to grab the mic from him, causing her to fall on the ground. Olson said she was so distraught that she went into a back room, passed out and fell again, this time hitting her head.
That supposed tumble caused a diagnosis of "two brain bleeds," according to Olson, which left her confined to a wheelchair and walker.
But after Olson's lawyer watched the taped footage of the alleged event, her camp quickly amended the lawsuit.
Olson dropped her charges of assault and battery against against Cohen and NBC Universal, and is now setting her sights on the "emotional distress" the Brüno star and his film crew allegedly caused when they sent Brüno to her charity bingo tournament, according to THR, Esq.
"The amendment to the original complaint does not change the cause of the injuries plead in the original complaint," Olson's attorney, Kyle Madison, told the trade. "Mrs. Olson's brain injuries were never alleged to have been derived from an assault or battery. She suffered two brain bleeds after the confrontation ensued with Mr. Baron Cohen. According to California case law, any injuries deriving from intentional infliction of emotional distress are recoverable. Mr. Baron Cohen and those associated with the production of Brüno are accountable for inflicting serious emotional distress and the resulting injuries to Mrs. Olson."
The bingomonger is suing for unspecified damages. In an ironic twist of fate, her unstaged scene didn't even make the film's final cut.
Sigh. Where is Lutz—Brüno's love-struck assistant—when you need him?