Sarah Palin excoriated Sacha Baron Cohen for disrespecting the military after the comedian posed as a disabled veteran to interview the former Alaska governor for his upcoming Showtime special.
Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is preparing a new seven-episode series for the premium cabler called Who is America, where he reportedly dupes famous Americans such as former Vice President Dick Cheney. Palin was just one of those personalities and former government officials the comedian tricks into appearing on camera.
On Tuesday, Matt Drudge Tweeted and deleted a post about Palin and other political figures on the right and left being tricked by the Cohen, specifically naming “Cheney, Palin, Howard Dean, Alberto Gonzales, Bernie, Trent Lott, Patraeus, Ted Koppel, and more.”
“Yup – we were duped. Ya’ got me, Sacha. Feel better now?” Palin said on Facebook.
“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,” Palin added.
But Palin went on to explain what she experienced under the guise of participating in what she thought was a “documentary” about American veterans.
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.
Palin slammed Cohen and CBS Corp., which owns Showtime, as “truly sick” and challenged them to donate the money made from the project 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,” Palin said.
Palin continued:
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.
Palin ended her explanation slapping Cohen for his ignorance, “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.”
Over the weekend Baron Cohen posted a promotional video to Instagram which showed Cheney signing a “waterboard kit.”
The video came days after Baron Cohen released another promotional video of Donald Trump railing against the Borat star, footage which first appeared in 2012.
A Showtime description of Who Is America, which airs Sunday, July 15, says, “In the works over the past year, the seven-episode series will explore the diverse individuals, from the infamous to the unknown across the political and cultural spectrum, who populate our unique nation.”
At press time, Showtime had not publicly responded to Sarah Palin.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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