Class Action Lawsuit Alleges Girls Going Wild Video Features Actors, Not Muslim Students On Ramadan Break
By RAMESH RHAMJAMI
Published August 3, 2012
A class action lawsuit filed on Thursday asks an important question about the responsibilities of reality television. In particular, do producers of reality programming have a legal duty to not misrepresent the “reality” of their products?
At the center of the suit is class representative Daniel Faber, a 21-year-old Santa Marino resident. Faber alleges that he purchased a DVD titled Girls Going Wild: Ramadan Rampage. The video’s promotional material allegedly depicts actual Muslim girls on Ramadan Break from university in Alexandria, Egypt and celebrating their time off with unrestrained sexual activity on the Greek island of Mykonos.
According to The LBT film historian and film critic Richard Newberg, Ramadan Rampage represented a new direction for the GGW franchise. “In [Ramadan] Rampage, GGW said ‘we are bigger than the U.S.; in fact, we are an international force,’” he said. “It is ironic that they are being attacked for what was their most ambitious project.”
“It is ironic that they are being attacked for what was their most ambitious project.”
The crux of Faber’s suit is his claim that Ramadan Rampage features American porn actors instead of actual Egyptian Ramadan Breakers, and his discovery of the alleged staged nature of the on-screen activity traumatized him. The suit seeks $10 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
According to Faber’s attorney, Richard Stein, Faber can no longer engage in his normal sexual activity. “Daniel feels violated in the same way as a victim of sexual battery feels violated,” said Stein. “[Faber’s] life is forever changed due to this massive fraud perpetrated against him,” said Stein. “The closest thing my client had to a woman in his life were the women in this DVD, and once they betrayed him he was left with nothing.”
According to the complaint, Faber’s discovery came about in the early morning hours of November 7, 2011 when he was web surfing on website youporn.com. The complaint states that Faber “saw a clear depiction of an alleged ‘Muslim’ school girl from Rampage accepting anal intercourse in a setting clearly in a Southern California state park – not Egypt.”
Believing that the Muslim girls that he had watched so many times were actually American actors, Faber “went into a tailspin” according to the complaint. He allegedly did not leave his apartment for weeks.
“The closest thing my client had to a woman in his life were the women in this DVD, and once they betrayed him he was left with nothing.”
Legal analysts expressed mixed opinions concerning the merits of the suit. “GGW has some questions to answer because if you believe the allegations they were caught in a fraud that goes to the heart of their brand,” said Alfred Weber, a professor of law at Corona State University in Mesa, Arizona.
Laurence Hamm, a prominent class action attorney based in San Diego believes the plaintiff will have a difficult road. “Even if GGW commited the fraud, the jury might not find substantial damages,” said Hamm.
GGW has had its legal travails in the past. In 2008, GGW founder Francis Josephs reportedly pleaded no contest to child abuse and prostitution charges in Florida after spending nearly a year in jail.
GGW representatives were unavailable at press time for comment.