In May 2009, Brüno appeared at the MTV Movie Awards dressed as an angel with wings strapped to his buttocks hanging from the ceiling. As part of a prank, after an alleged equipment malfunction, he was lowered onto rapper Eminem who was seated directly beneath him. Brüno landed in Eminem's lap with his exposed rear end in Eminem's face. Members of D12, including Swifty, Kuniva, and Bizarre all helped to remove Brüno after Eminem said "Yo, get this motherfucker off me, man!" Eminem and the rest of the D12 members left the Awards, with Jesski shouting "Is the Real Slim Shady going to stand up?" Eminem appeared surprised, and slightly angry about the prank the whole time, but later claimed to reporters how he "laughed uncontrollably for about three hours" in his hotel afterward. Later Eminem himself claimed that the stunt had been planned and rehearsed beforehand; Baron Cohen had discussed the idea with Eminem, who is a fan of Baron Cohen's work and agreed to do the stunt.
Reaction
The character was well received by The Guardian, who described Brüno as, "howlingly funny, staggeringly rude, brutally incorrect and very often just brilliant".
Some LGBT groups have criticized the character as perpetuating LGBT stereotypes. "Sacha Baron Cohen's well-meaning attempt at satire is problematic in many places and outright offensive in others," Rashad Robinson, senior director of media programmes for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation told the New York Times.
Ayman Abu Aita Lawsuit
Baron Cohen appeared as Brüno on the Late Show with David Letterman in July 2009, where he made reference to Ayman Abu Aita, whom Brüno interviewed in the movie, as a terrorist. Ayman Abu Aita was identified in the film as a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an organization responsible for numerous suicide bombings. However, Abu Aita says that he was never a member of Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, though he identified as such in a 2002 Boston Globe article. Abu Aita served two years in a prison in Israel for his role in the Second Intifada. Aita made plans to sue, saying that he was misled and that he did not sign release forms for the footage of him which appeared in the film. Baron Cohen increased his security detail after WorldNetDaily claimed to receive a statement from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades threatening his life following the premiere of the film. In December 2009, Abu Aita sued Cohen and Letterman in Washington D.C. Federal Court. In November 2010, the lawsuit was dismissed in Washington D.C. Court so as to be refiled in the Supreme Court of New York. The record of the New York court indicates that the case was discontinued and disposed on July 16, 2012.
