Former US senator sues Ali G actor for £74m over TV show

ROY MOORE, the former US Senate candidate from Alabama, filed a £74million lawsuit yesterday accusing Sacha Baron Cohen of defamation for duping him into appearing on the British actor’s Showtime television series Who Is America?

Mr Moore, a Republican and former chief justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court, also brought defamation claims against Showtime and its parent, CBS Corp, over a sketch broadcast on July 29 that appeared to portray him as a sex offender.

Mr Moore lost his Senate race in Republican-dominated Alabama to Democrat Doug Jones last December after being accused of sexual misconduct toward women when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. One woman said he tried to initiate sexual contact with her when she was 14.

The lawsuit said Baron Cohen’s show mocked him with a “false and fraudulent portrayal” that harmed Mr Moore’s reputation and caused “severe emotional distress” to his family.

Mr Moore’s wife, Kayla, is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit that additionally accuses the defendants of fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

CBS and Showtime did not immediately respond to requests for comment behalf of the defendants.

In the disputed sketch, Baron Cohen, disguised as a purported Israeli anti-terrorism expert Erran Morad, demonstrated what he said was a device to detect paedophiles, which beeped when within Mr Moore’s range.

Mr Moore said he had been tricked into meeting Baron Cohen, 46, who rose to fame as Ali G, a stereotypical urban hip-hop character, by being told he was receiving an award for his strong support of Israel.

He added he would never have agreed to the interview in Washington DC had he known that Erran Morad was actually Baron Cohen. on