Getty Sarah Palin and Sacha Baron Cohen
Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate turned political commentator, says she was duped into giving an “interview” to a man she now believes was the comedian Sacha Baron Cohen disguised as a disabled veteran in a wheelchair.
In a lengthy Facebook post on July 10, 2018, Palin appeared to be irate, writing that the ruse was “truly sick.”
“The challenge is to Cohen, CBS and Showtime: donate all proceeds to a charitable group that actually respects and supports American Vets. 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.
The skit appears to be for Cohen’s new Showtime series, Who Is America?, which debuts on July 15, 2018 and has reportedly entrapped other political figures into fake interviews.
Here’s what you need to know:
Sarah Palin Says She Originally Thought It Was a ‘Legit Opportunity’
In the Facebook post, Palin claimed that she sat through a “long interview” thinking a man she now suspects was Sacha Baron Cohen was a disabled veteran complete with wheelchair. She says the talk was arranged through a speaker’s bureau. Here’s what she wrote in the post:
Yup – we were duped. Ya’ got me, Sacha. Feel better now?
I join a long list of American public personalities who have fallen victim to the evil, exploitive, sick ‘humor’ of the British ‘comedian’ Sacha Baron Cohen, enabled and sponsored by CBS/Showtime.
This ‘legit opportunity’ to honor American Vets and contribute to a ‘legit Showtime historical documentary’ was requested of me via a speakers bureau.
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. 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.
Here is my challenge, shallow Sacha boy: go ahead – air the footage. Experience tells us it will be heavily edited, not pretty, and intended to humiliate.
The challenge is to Cohen, CBS and Showtime: donate all proceeds to a charitable group that actually respects and supports American Vets. 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.
Truly sick.
And as an aside, for further insight into the wealthy corporate enablers of this kind of ‘joke’, I’ll add that after great costs on our part in time and resources to contribute to their “documentary” the Cohen/CBS/Showtime production team purposefully dropped my daughter and me off at the wrong Washington, DC airport after the fake interview, knowing we’d miss all flights back home to Alaska. After refusing to take our calls to help get us out of the bind they’d put us in for three days, I wrote this off as yet another example of the sick nature that is media-slash-entertainment today.
Feel good and manly about your M.O., Sacha?
By the way, my daughter thinks you’re a piece of ****, Sacha. Every honorable American Vet should feel the same.
Daily Mail says the Palin situation happened in November 2017 and she was with Piper, her teenage daughter.
The Showtime Series May Have Also Duped Dick Cheney & Other Political Figures
The Sacha Baron Cohen vehicle “Who Is America?” debuts on Showtime on July 15, 2018, and word is starting to trickle out about which political figures were likely “duped.”
Showtime called the program “the most dangerous show in the history of television,” and it’s been described as a “satirical half-hour series,” but some critics say it appears to be designed to mock conservatives and Donald Trump supporters. Fox News reported that a source claimed it was “a Hollywood hit job on GOP” complete with a conspiracy-theory-laden fake website and at least one character named Dr. Billy Wayne Ruddick, supposedly played by Cohen.
Sacha Baron Cohen posted a video snippet on Instagram that appears to show an interview with former Vice President Cheney.
“Imagine if Sacha Baron Cohen had been undercover secretly filming a new show for a year,” the video starts. A heavily accented voice asks Cheney, who is sitting in a chair, “Dick Cheney is it possible to sign my waterboard kit?”
“Sure,” Cheney says.
The words “coming soon” appear on the screen, and then Cheney says, “That’s a first. That’s the first time I’ve ever signed a waterboard.”
Here’s the trailer or first “teaser” as Showtime called it:
Other indications point to politicians from both parties falling prey to Cohen’s skits, including Bernie Sanders and Howard Dean as well as Roy Moore and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Sacha Baron Cohen is a comedian best known for his appearances as “Borat” and on “Da Ali G Show.” The show’s website contains a promo that features Cheney saying, “I hope you’ll tune in next week for an interview with me.” According to Variety, the show has seven episodes. It was written and directed by Sacha Baron Cohen and was kept a mystery until days before the launch.
The tease for the show says, “Who Is America? You know Ali G, Bruno, and Borat, but this summer Sacha Baron Cohen returns in a new series as you’ve never, ever seen him before. Who Is America? Series premiere Sunday, July 15 at 10pm ET/PT.” The premise of the show has been kept a mystery but what’s leaked out so far indicates it may be similar to past Cohen skits in which he tricked prominent people into sitting for interviews. It appears to have a political/American government focus and features Cohen in character/disguise.
Cohen Shared a Video Mocking Donald Trump & Trump University on Social Media
According to CBS News, “The first episode of ‘Who is America?’ will air on Showtime at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday, July 15, and debut on streaming, online and on demand Sunday at midnight. Subsequent episodes will air on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/PT.”
Reports Indie Wire: “‘Who Is America?’ premieres on streaming, online and On Demand this Sunday, July 15 at midnight ET (9 p.m. PT July 14), and will premiere on air that same night at 10 p.m. ET.”
Cohen also posted a video on social media that satirizes President Donald Trump and Trump University, but it’s not clear how any of that figures into Cohen’s new show. In that post, Trump trash talks Cohen in a video. “This third-rate character named Sacha Baron Cohen, I only wish he that would’ve been punched in the face so many times right now, he’d be in a hospital,” Trump said in part.
“A message from your President @realDonaldTrump on Independence Day,” Cohen tweeted with the video. According to CBS, the video of Trump trashing Cohen dates to 2012 and related to Cohen dumping an urn of supposed ashes on Ryan Seacrest at the Oscars.
“Sacha graduates soon,” the Trump video concludes, before flashing the logo for Trump University.
Sacha Cohen Baron has interviewed Trump before:
Whether he managed to interview Trump again for the new show is yet to be seen.