Palin tears into ‘ sick’ Baron Cohen for being duped

‘ Cohen heavily disguised as a disabled US veteran, fake wheelchair’

New York: Sacha Baron Cohen is back and Sarah Palin is not amused. The US former vice- presidential nominee and exAlaska governor has launched an extraordinary attack on the British comedian for duping her to take part in his new show. “Ya’ got me, Sacha. Feel better now?” wrote the mother of five, once synonymous with the Tea Party movement on the far- right of the Republican Party.

Cohen, she said, “heavily disguised himself as a disabled US veteran, fake wheelchair and all,” for the interview that she was told was a “legit” historical documentary by pay- toview American television network Showtime.

“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,” she wrote.

Palin said she ultimately walked out of the interview and slammed what she called the Cambridgeeducated comedian’s “foreign commentaries” that disrespected the US military and middle- class Americans. She called on Cohen, CBS and Showtime to donate all proceeds from the interview to charities that support American veterans. In a final indignity, Palin accused the production team of “purposefully” dropping her and her daughter off at the wrong Washington airport, “knowing” they would miss their return flights back to Alaska.

Cohen first found fame in Britain in 2000 with Da Ali G Show that saw his wannabe rapper character interview unsuspecting public figures.

The show later transferred across the Atlantic. He followed a similar format with hit movie characters that include bumbling Kazakh reporter Borat and gay Austrian fashionista Bruno.

His latest venture “Who is America?” is a satirical half- hour seven- episode series that premieres this Sunday on Showtime.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever signed a waterboard,” former vice president Dick Cheney says in a teaser for the series tweeted by Cohen this week.