Roy Moore Sues Sacha Baron Cohen For $95M Over ‘Pedophile Beeper’ Skit
Image by Getty Images
Roy Moore, the failed Senate candidate from Alabama, on Wednesday filed a $95 million lawsuit accusing Sacha Baron Cohen of defamation for duping him into appearing on the actor’s Showtime television series “Who Is America?”
Moore, a Republican and former chief justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court, also brought defamation claims against Showtime and its parent, CBS Corp, over a sketch broadcast on July 29 that appeared to portray him as a sex offender.
Moore lost his Senate race in Republican-dominated Alabama to Democrat Doug Jones last December after being accused of sexual misconduct toward women when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. One woman said he tried to initiate sexual contact with her when she was 14.
The lawsuit said Baron Cohen’s show mocked him with a “false and fraudulent portrayal” that harmed Moore’s reputation and caused “severe emotional distress” to his family.
In the disputed sketch, Baron Cohen, disguised as a purported Israeli anti-terrorism expert Erran Morad, demonstrated what he said was a device for detecting pedophiles, which beeped when it came into Moore’s range.
Moore said he had been tricked into meeting Baron Cohen by being told he was receiving an award for his strong support of Israel, and that he never would have agreed to the interview in Washington, D.C., had he known that Morad was Baron Cohen.
Kayla Moore also made headlines by pushing back against anti-Semitism charges by claiming the couple had a “Jewish attorney.”—Reuters
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
