Former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and senate candidate Roy Moore filed a lawsuit against Sacha Baron Cohen on Sept. 5.
Moore filed the case in the Federal District Court in the District of Columbia and claimed that he was duped to appear on the celebrity's Who Is America? Showtime series. He is seeking for $95 million to make up for defamation, fraud, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
What Sparked The Case
Along with the Borat star, CBS and Showtime were also named as defendants. Notably, even before the episode was aired on TV, Moore already stated that he was tricked by the host to appear on the show. This coincided with the claims of former congressman Joe Walsh, and former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
In the Who Is America? episode that was aired at the end of July, the former Alabama chief justice was interviewed by Erran Morad, an Israeli antiterrorism expert played by Cohen.
Morad's character brought out a wand-like device in the show which he said was an Israeli-made pedophile detector. The device then indicated that Moore could be a pedophile. It was during this time that he ended the interview.
According to the lawsuit, the interview had wrongly painted Judge Moore. It also mocked and defamed him as a sex offender.
In the court papers, Moore said that during February, two months after he lost in the elections, he was invited to come to Washington to be interviewed by an Israeli TV station and to claim an award for his strong support for the country. This encouraged him and his wife to come to the area.
According to the lawsuit, the producers from the show indicated that they were from Yerushalayim TV, which turned to be fictional. This also coincided with the claim of Walsh.
Other Issues
Reports that alleged Moore of sexually harassing underage girls in his younger years were published during his campaign for the U.S. Senate. The issue played a role in his loss against Doug Jones, who eventually became the first Democratic senator of Alabama in 25 years.
The famous comedian is not a stranger to issues. He has famously played characters such as Ali G, a wannabe rapper, Borat, a Kazakh journalist, and Bruno, a gay fashionista. A charity worker filed a case over the popular actor over Bruno, and two students also sued him over Borat.
Moore is represented by Larry Klayman, a political activist. The case is labeled Moore v. Cohen, 18-cv-2082, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia.
