In a Facebook statement written on Tuesday, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin blasted comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, CBS, and Showtime for a prank the “Borat” star pulled on her and her daughter some time recently.
Palin’s rage was only tangentially related to the fact that she was the subject of mockery by Cohen and the networks behind his new show; her real source of anger stemmed from the nature of the prank itself. According to Palin, Cohen disguised himself as a wounded military veteran in order to get her to sit for a short interview. That didn’t sit right with the one-time Vice Presidential-candidate, who is known for her charity work for veterans groups.
“I join a long list of American public personalities who have fallen victim to the evil, exploitive, sick ‘humor’ of the British ‘comedian’ Sacha Baron Cohen, enabled and sponsored by CBS/Showtime,” Palin said. “This ‘legit opportunity’ to honor American Vets and contribute to a ‘legit Showtime historical documentary’ was requested of me via a speakers bureau.
“For my interview, my daughter and I were asked to travel across the country where Cohen (I presume) had heavily disguised himself as a disabled US Veteran, fake wheelchair and all,” she explained. “Out of respect for what I was led to believe would be a thoughtful discussion with someone who had served in uniform, I sat through a long ‘interview’ full of Hollywoodism’s disrespect and sarcasm – but finally had enough and literally, physically removed my mic and walked out, much to Cohen’s chagrin. The disrespect of our US military and middle-class Americans via Cohen’s foreign commentaries under the guise of interview questions was perverse.”
Typically, we would wait and watch the final product before making a final judgement on whether or not this segment crossed the line, but in this case…Cohen’s reputation speaks for itself. Anyone who has seen virtually ANY of this comedian’s work in the past knows that there is truly no low to which he will not sink for a laugh. And if Palin’s characterization of this prank is accurate (and, again, knowing Cohen, we have absolutely no reason to doubt that it is), this may be the lowest point in his career to date. How there are actual Americans who actually find this funny is beyond us.
We’re not uptight comedy prudes by any means. We’ll even admit to having laughed at some of Cohen’s shtick in the past. But this is way beyond the pale. As Palin herself put it, you can mock her and conservative politicians to your hearts’ content; when you stoop so low as to make fun of wounded military vets or use their likeness as a pawn in your stupid show…that’s where we draw the line.
Actually, we like the way Sarah put it better: “Mock politicians and innocent public personalities all you want, if that lets you sleep at night, but HOW DARE YOU mock those who have fought and served our country.”
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