Roy Moore is suing Sacha Baron Cohen for defamation after falling for one of the British comedian’s pranks for his Showtime series, “Who is America?”
In a court filing with the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia on Wednesday, Moore said he was duped by Cohen with an all-expense-paid trip Washington, D.C., to accept a nonexistent award at an event in February purportedly to commemorate Moore’s support of Israel for its 70th anniversary.
Moore also took part in an interview with Cohen disguised as fake Israeli anti-terrorism expert Gen. Erran Morad — a segment which appeared on Cohen’s show. In his filing, Moore says Cohen “falsely painted, portrayed, mocked and with malice defamed Judge Moore as a sex offender, which he is not.”
Roy Moore sues Sacha Baron Cohen for defamation, tricking him into flying to D.C. to accept a non-existent pro-Israel award. Suit alleges this was a “ruse” to mock Moore with a “device supposedly invented by the Israeli Army to detect pedophiles”https://t.co/UgZVsM0dE1 pic.twitter.com/yOak6EAoBN
— Matt Kwong (@matt_kwong) September 5, 2018
In the episode, which aired earlier this summer, Cohen takes out a wand he claims is a tool law enforcement can use to detect pedophiles; it beeps every time Cohen waves it over Moore.
Moore, a former judge, lost the the 2017 special election in Alabama to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the Senate following a string of sexual misconduct allegations, including allegations that he initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl when he was in his 30s.
Moore, who is suing along with his wife Kayla, are issuing the lawsuit against Cohen along with Showtime and CBS. Showtime is a subsidiary of the CBS Corporation.
“As a direct and proximate result of Defendants and their agents’ extreme, outrageous and malicious defamatory conduct set forth above, Judge Moore has been the subject of widespread ridicule and humiliation and has suffered severe loss of reputation, which has in turn also caused him, Mrs. Moore, and his entire family severe emotional distress and pain and financial damage, especially given his status as a prominent conservative and a God fearing person of faith,” the filing says.
The Moores are seeking “compensatory, and punitive damages in excess of $95,000,000,” as well as attorney’s fees and costs and “any other relief that this Court may deem just and proper.”
A number of political figures were fooled into making embarrassing appearances on Cohen’s Showtime show, including former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Sarah Palin.
