Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said “Borat” and “Ali G” actor Sacha Baron Cohen “duped” her into an interview. Cohen, she said, “had heavily disguised himself” as a disabled wheelchair-bound U.S. veteran.
Showtime issued a press release this week about Cohen’s new series, called “Who is America?”
“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,” Palin wrote.
Palin said she stayed for the interview “out of respect for what I was led to believe would be a thoughtful discussion with someone who had served in uniform.” But the former governor removed her microphone and left, saying she experienced “a long ‘interview’ full of Hollywoodism’s disrespect and sarcasm.”
“The disrespect of our US military and middle-class Americans via Cohen’s foreign commentaries under the guise of interview questions was perverse … 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. Truly sick,” she said.
Palin also had critical words for Showtime and parent company CBS for airing the show, saying that the company should donate its profit to charity. “Here is my challenge, shallow Sacha boy: go ahead—air the footage. Experience tells us it will be heavily edited, not pretty, and intended to humiliate. The challenge is to Cohen, CBS and Showtime: donate all proceeds to a charitable group that actually respects and supports American Vets.”
Cohen, Showtime, and CBS have yet to issue a public comment on the matter.
“By the way, my daughter thinks you’re a piece of [expletive], Sacha,” Palin concluded. “Every honorable American Vet should feel the same.”