Lawsuit over 'paedophile detector' sketch

A  right-wing American politician is suing Sacha Baron Cohen for defamation over a prank on his series Who Is America?

The comic conducted a spoof interview with former US Senate candidate Roy Moore in the guise of Israeli anti-terrorism expert   Erran Morad.

The character demonstrated a ‘paedophile detector’, which beeped when it was waved near Moore, prompting him to walk out, saying: ‘Certainly I'm not a paedophile. I support Israel. I don't support this kind of stuff.’ Here is the segment:

Now Mooer is claiming $95million (£73million) in damages from Baron Cohen and the CBS-owned Showtime network which aired the show in the US.

The lawsuit says: ‘During the segment, defendant Cohen's "device" – as part of the false and fraudulent – purports to detect Judge Moore as a sex offender, thus defaming him.’

It claims  Mr Moore, and his family suffered ‘severe emotional distress and pain... especially given his status as a prominent conservative and God fearing person of faith’.

The broadcaster has said it will not comment on ongoing litigation.

In last year’s election campaign, nine women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against the Republican. One of them said Moore assaulted her in 1979, when she was 14 and he was 32.  Another said she fought him off when she was 16.

The Alabama candidate – who was endorsed by Donald Trump despite the claims – accepted that he may have approached and dated teenagers while he was in his 30s, but denied that any of the girls were underage or that he had sexually assaulted anyone, saying the claims were a ‘political conspiracy’.

He lost the election to Democratic opponent Doug Jones.

Evolution-denier Moore has been suspended from the Supreme Court of Alabama for disobeying federal laws on marriage equality, and has described homosexuality as ‘a crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one's ability to describe it.’

Before Who Is America? aired, Moore said in a statement: 'I am involved in several court cases presently to defend my honour and character against vicious false political attacks by liberals like Cohen. If Showtime airs a defamatory attack on my character, I may very well be involved in another.

'As for Mr Cohen, whose art is trickery, deception and dishonesty, Alabama does not respect cowards who exhibit such traits. It’s been a long time since I fought for my country in Vietnam. I’m ready to defend her again.'

• Baron Cohen won the Editor’s Special Award at the GQ Awards last night.

Published: 6 Sep 2018