Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin had harsh words for Sacha Baron Cohen earlier this week upon learning she’d been pranked by the actor-comedian for his new TV series, “Who Is America?”
Palin claimed to have been “duped” by Cohen, saying in a lengthy Facebook post on Tuesday that she’d flown across the country for an interview she believed was for a “legit Showtime historical documentary.” Instead, Cohen appeared to have disguised himself as a disabled veteran, and proceeded to conduct an interview “full of Hollywoodism’s disrespect and sarcasm,” she said.
On Thursday, Cohen fired back at Palin... well, sort of. In a note posted to Twitter, he responded to the former Alaska governor’s claims in character as Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr, Ph.D, the “citizen journalist” of “Who Is America?”
The image also contained the URL to Ruddick’s right-wing “website,” which features articles like “Obama is a Kenyan,” “Crooked Hillary” and “Hollywood Satanic Elite.”
Palin, it turns out, isn’t the only conservative figure angered by “Who Is America?,” which Showtime is touting as a seven-episode series that “explores the diverse individuals, from the infamous to the unknown across the political and cultural spectrum, who populate our unique nation.”
On Thursday, failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore said he was invited to Washington, D.C. earlier this year “to receive an award for my strong support of Israel,” only to discover upon arrival that he’d also been pranked by Cohen.
“I am involved in several court cases presently to defend my honor and character against vicious false political attacks by liberals like Cohen,” Moore said. “If Showtime airs a defamatory attack on my character, I may very well be involved in another.”