Baron Cohen show snares O.J. Simpson
During Sunday’s finale of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who Is America? the Showtime series wasn’t short on juice. Baron Cohen’s character Gio, described in the skit as a “billionaire playboy and fashion photographer from Milan” who looks at the lives of the ultra-rich for the fake show The Diamond Life of Gio, travelled to Las Vegas to meet O.J. Simpson, described as a “women’s rights activist.”
In what appeared to be a hotel room, Baron Cohen introduced Simpson to his girlfriend, Christina, who had trouble placing the former athlete. That is, until Baron Cohen made a stabbing motion to the woman’s neck, jogging her memory, alluding to the 1994 slaying of Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown Simpson.
“She knows that, oh Jesus!” Simpson said. “Help me!”
Simpson then called Christina “gorgeous,” to which Gio replied: “You can enjoy her, just don’t ...” he trailed off, making a stabbing motion again.
After Christina’s exit, Baron Cohen, in character, confessed to Simpson: “She’s gorgeous, but sometimes I want to kill her.” He added: “I want to send her on a private helicopter tour over the Grand Canyon — oopsa-daisy.”
“Stop, stop,” Simpson said laughing.
“Me and you, we got something in common,” Baron Cohen said. “(We’re) both — how you say it — lady killers. You know, it’s not what it sounds like. In Italian it translates to somebody who murders women.”
“No, I didn’t kill nobody,” Simpson said, chuckling and raising his hands in protest.