Roy Moore: I’m Glad To Be Duped By Sasha Baron Cohen, That’s How Much I Love Israel

We’ll be seeing more of Roy Moore on Sasha Baron Cohen’s new show Image by GETTY IMAGES/FORWARD MONTAGE
Say what you will about trickster comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, but aren’t you glad that it was he who brought Roy Moore’s name back into the news and not, say, a 13-year-old?
Disgraced Alabama judge Roy Moore has issued a defiant statement explaining that he attended what he believed to be a conference honoring Israel’s 70th birthday which was actually an elaborate set up by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for his new “Who Is America?” with Showtime, set to air this Sunday. The faux-conference, which also lured former-congressman Joe Walsh and likely others, took place in Washington, DC in February.
Moore said the gambit worked to “embarrass, humiliate, and mock” him and Israel, though Moore, who lost the 2017 special election in Alabama after nine women accused him of sexual assault, tends to have that kind of thing under control.
Moore ended his statement by threatening legal action against the Showtime network, and alluding to a more direct uprising: “It’s been a long time since I fought for my country in Vietnam,” he wrote. “I’m ready to defend her again.
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
The question remains: Will Baron Cohen’s newest venture into audacious mockumentary turn a mirror on the absurdity of conservative politics? Or will it merely alienate Americans who dislike foreign elites like Baron Cohen and think Israel and disabled veterans are no laughing matter?
And then, of course, there’s this:
We need to brace ourselves for the very real possibility that Sacha Baron Cohen held a fake pro-Israel conference in DC and tricked dozens of conservative luminaries into singing a fake Israeli national anthem https://t.co/QUDQ2HeHao
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) July 12, 2018
Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
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.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 4
Music After decades of waiting, we’re finally getting a Bob Dylan-Barbra Streisand duet
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward A Jewish nonprofit may have accidentally caused Michigan to drop charges against pro-Palestinian activists
-
Culture For Christian nationalists, Trump’s pope picture isn’t a joke
-
Opinion Is Israel really going to reoccupy Gaza? Ask Trump
-
Yiddish World A photo of my bubbe when Jewish stores still had Yiddish signs
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.