Sarah Palin Claims Sacha Baron Cohen ‘Duped’ Her Into ‘Sick’ Interview
- Funny
- Offensive
“Yup – we were duped. Ya’ got me, Sacha. Feel better now?”
July 11th, 2018 – Former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin took to Facebook yesterday to express her frustration after being “duped” by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. The news comes just weeks after another comedian, John Melendez, tricked President Trump and his staff into patching him through for a call on Air Force One.
Palin details the ordeal in a lengthy post filled with plenty of accusations, challenges, and quotation marks. The former Alaska Governor says she was presented with a “legit opportunity” to participate in a “legit Showtime historical documentary” but ultimately walked out of the “interview” after she had enough of the disrespect and sarcasm.
On Sunday, Cohen promoted a new project on Twitter called Who Is America?, which shows the prankster donning more disguises in his quest to confront politicians on both sides of the aisle. Palin revealed that her interview found Cohen dressed as a disabled US veteran. This character decision is ultimately what sent Palin over the edge.
“For my interview, my daughter and I were asked to travel across the country where Cohen (I presume) had heavily disguised himself as a disabled US Veteran, fake wheelchair and all,” Palin wrote. “Out of respect for what I was led to believe would be a thoughtful discussion with someone who had served in uniform, I sat through a long “interview” full of Hollywoodism’s disrespect and sarcasm – but finally had enough and literally, physically removed my mic and walked out, much to Cohen’s chagrin. The disrespect of our US military and middle-class Americans via Cohen’s foreign commentaries under the guise of interview questions was perverse.”
Who Is America? debuts Sunday on Showtime, and while the network has declined to respond to Palin’s specific comments, president and CEO David Nevins has commented on Cohen as a performer.
“Sacha is a comedic genius who shocks you with his audacity, bravery and inventiveness,” Nevins told The Hollywood Reporter. “He is the premier provocateur of our time, but not for the sake of ‘gotcha’ moments. Behind the elaborate setup is a genuine quest for the truth about people, places and politics.”
Palin maintains that the stunt was not a genuine quest but “evil, exploitive, sick ‘humor.'” She has called on “shallow Sacha boy,” along with CBS and Showtime, to donate all proceeds from the series to a charity that supports American veterans.
“Mock politicians and innocent public personalities all you want, if that lets you sleep at night, but HOW DARE YOU mock those who have fought and served our country,” she wrote.
Plenty of innocent, and perhaps not so innocent, public personalities have also been targeted for Cohen’s latest sting. It’s been reported that Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, Howard Dean, Bernie Sanders and many more politicians and journalists will sit down for interviews.
Former Vice President Cheney’s role has already gotten attention after a trailer for the series showed him autographing a “waterboard kit,” which turned out to be a gallon carton.
— Sacha Baron Cohen (@SachaBaronCohen) July 8, 2018
No word on which, if any, memorabilia Palin signed, but we do know she claims that production purposefully dropped her and her daughter off at the wrong airport following the interview.
“By the way, my daughter thinks you’re a piece of ****, Sacha,” she said in closing her Facebook post.
Those citizens participating in civility are asked to message us if they know what word Palin was saying using asterisks.