Posted on 07/17/2018 11:12:17 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
Rep. Lee Zeldin said Tuesday that comedian Sacha Baron Cohen tried to get him to appear on his new Showtime series, but the New York Republican "picked up on his sleazy pitch."
Baron Cohen's new show "Who is America?" — which premiered on Sunday — features the former "Borat" star's signature guerrilla-style interviews in which he appears in disguises while attempting to entrap subjects in embarrassing or offensive situations.
Rep. Lee Zeldin (Twitter): "For anyone hoping I was duped into an interview by Borat, you'll be saddened to know I picked up on his sleazy pitch beforehand & didn't agree to his make believe interview when "Julia Harris" reached out from "Yerushalayim TV" to give me a "70 at 70" award for supporting Israel."
The British actor has in recent months conducted interviews with a number of prominent politicians for his new show, including former Alaksa Gov. Sarah Palin (R), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), former Vice President Dick Cheney and Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-Calif.), among others.
Palin claimed that she was "duped" into a prank interview for series, and accused Cohen of lying about being a disabled veteran.
Showtime disputed her claims, saying Cohen "did not present himself as a disabled veteran, and viewers nationwide who watched the premiere on Sunday can now attest to that."
The first episode of the series included interviews with a number of lawmakers and gun rights advocates who, at Baron Cohen's urging, said they supported arming toddlers.
Baron Cohen starred in the 2006 comedy film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" and 2009's "Brüno," playing the titular characters, who first appeared on his series "Da Ali G Show."
People get tricked into doing these interviews a few reasons:
1) They're easy marks because they're known to be attention hounds who run to be on camera.
2) They're easily swayed by fawning flattery and they love when people shower them in praise.
3) They do the interviews for money.
4) They believe any publicity is good publicity.
5) They're gullible and they don't ask tough questions about strangers they never heard of asking them for interviews. (If you don't know the interviewer, do research and then do more research before you agree to the interview).
“Cohen “did not present himself as a disabled veteran, and viewers nationwide who watched the premiere on Sunday can now attest to that.””
I guess this reporter never heard of editing.
Or maybe it is just because Cohen is just another sleazy anti-American who pretends to be someone he’s not. Like a disabled vet who targets someone who helps vets on a regular basis.
He hasn’t gotten down the absurd pretend comedy of say a genius like Andy Kaufman. He just alienates people with obnoxious outrageous statements.
Just another reason why Trumps Twitter use is the smartest thing he has done - which of course pisses off the gatekeepers of the mainstream media.
You cast aspersions with absolutely no information other than your imagination.
Good post - Kaufman was a genius. This guy can’t even act in straight films.
Joe Arpaio was duped as well.
Even worse, he has been duped by the Bush League Republicans into the Senate race to block for McSallycain so they can keep their TWO Amnesty Senators.
Kaufman and Lawler were really friends. If you watch the movie of their encounter, Lawler slaps his hand and not Kaufman. Kaufman,on the other hand, gave Lawler a heads up before he threw the coffee at him. Andy Kaufman also got checks from the wrestling copr he so admired, but he never cashed them.
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