Duped Sarah Palin says Sacha Baron Cohen told her Chelsea Clinton was a recipient of a government-funded sex change
Sarah Palin is sharing more details about her faux interview with Sacha Baron Cohen.
The former Republican vice presidential candidate recently revealed she was one of the political figures to be duped by the comedian for his upcoming Showtime series, Who Is America?, which debuts this weekend. Palin claims Cohen posed as a disabled vet and tried to talk to her about Chelsea Clinton getting a sex change.
“It was proposed to me as a legitimate interview to speak about veterans issues and our military and current events to a new audience. It was supposed to be this big-time Showtime documentary, and it was passed on to me by a speakers’ bureau, which, you know, I would assume had done some vetting,” Palin told Robin Roberts on Good Morning America on Friday. “This ‘comedian’ is obviously very good at lying, at duping people. … Look at the long list of men coming out [saying] ‘me too.'”
Former Vice President Dick Cheney, Senator Bernie Sanders, disgraced senatorial candidate Al Moore, and journalist Ted Koppel are among those who were reportedly tricked as well.
Palin recounted the moment she knew the “interview” was going off the rails.
“He started showing me these graphs and statistics that had, like, typos in them and just didn’t quite look right. Part of this propaganda, this data that he was showing me, had something to do with sex changes and transgenderism and then he brought up Chelsea Clinton and said that she was a recipient of a government-funded sex change,” Palin recalled. “It just got worse and worse and worse as the minutes went on in this bizarre, um, really embarrassing, humiliating interview that mocked middle-class Americans. It mocked our values. It mocked the disabled. It just got worse and worse.”
The former Alaska governor thought to herself “Enough is enough,” so she took off her mic and walked out.
“Since then, nobody has returned my calls,” she stated. “They had given us fake names as to producers and anybody involved in the show. Nobody has taken me up on my offer for them to donate the proceeds from this show to veterans organizations that truly support and respect our vets.”
Showtime and Cohen — via his character’s Twitter account, Billy Wayne Ruddick, Jr. PhD — maintain that the comedian “did NOT say I was a War Vet.” In an open letter to “Vice-President Palin” he writes, “I was in the service — not military, but United Parcel, and I only fought for my country once — when I shot a Mexican who came onto my property.”
Here’s the truth @SarahPalinUSA 🇺🇸 #MAGA #buildthewall #boycottsashacohen pic.twitter.com/iFZWrFTxWL
— Billy Wayne Ruddick Jr., PhD (@BillyWRuddick) July 12, 2018
Palin tells GMA, “This actor, this comedian, whomever he is — he’s a proven liar. Nobody can believe a word he’s saying now as to his rebuttal.” She isn’t the only person peeved about being fooled — Roy Moore is threatening legal action if his segment makes the air.
INBOX: Statement of Judge Roy Moore on Sasha Cohen’s CBS/Showtime series, Who is America? pic.twitter.com/uVBthwN6cQ
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) July 12, 2018
Perhaps the only one taking the prank somewhat lightly is Koppel. The veteran broadcaster tells the Hollywood Reporter, “Everybody loves seeing well-known people get duped. I relish it too, when it’s done well.”
However, Koppel — who didn’t sign a release — cautions, “I think there’s enough skepticism to go around about people who actually are reporters, who actually are documentarians. And to undermine whatever tiny little bit of confidence might be left by pulling a stunt like this … maybe it will make for a good comedy show. I don’t know. But I don’t think it helps the overall atmosphere.”
For someone so upset, Palin is certainly giving the series a lot of free PR.
Who Is America? premieres Sunday, July 15 at 10 p.m. on Showtime.
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