Sacha Baron Cohen dupes Palin for new series, and she’s angry
Sarah Palin is the latest public figure to be tricked by notorious prankster and film star Sacha Baron Cohen, and she’s not taking it lightly.
The British comedian is launching a new half-hour series, Who Is America? (Sunday at 10 on Showtime), and the seven-episode show appears to target politicians, tastemakers and cultural phenoms — without their knowledge. Palin was one of them. “Yup — we were duped. Ya’ got me, Sacha. Feel better now?” Palin wrote on Facebook Tuesday. “I join a long list of American public personalities who have fallen victim to the evil, exploitive, sick ‘humour’ of the British ‘comedian’ Sacha Baron Cohen.”
Palin goes on to explain she was duped into believing she would be honouring veterans during a “legit Showtime historical documentary,” for which Cohen “had heavily disguised himself as a disabled U.S. Veteran, fake wheelchair and all.”
Cohen, she wrote, subjected her to an interview full of “disrespect and sarcasm — but finally [I] had enough and literally, physically removed my mic and walked out, much to Cohen’s chagrin.”
Palin, who brought her daughter to the shoot, challenged Showtime to air the footage, but asked those behind the production to donate all proceeds to a charitable group that supports veterans. (Proceeds may be hard to pinpoint; Showtime is a pay channel that does not air commercials.)
“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. “Truly sick.”
Palin also accused Cohen’s production team of “purposefully” dropping them off at the wrong Washington airport, “knowing we’d miss all flights back home to Alaska.”
Showtime had no comment. But in Monday’s announcement of the series, network president David Nevins called Cohen “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.”
Cohen, 46, previously explored America in the guise of Borat, a sexist Kazakh journalist, and Brüno, a flamboyant Austrian fashion reporter.