Following the news Sacha Baron Cohen ‘duped’ Sarah Palin into an interview, another American politician has admitted to being tricked by the comedian.
Joe Walsh, a former congressman-turned-conservative radio talk-show host, took to Twitter to announce he had also been duped by Cohen, who has been secretly working on a new show – Who is America? – over the last year.
“I was invited to a pro-Israel dinner that honoured defenders of Israel,” he wrote. “The producers said they needed to film a pre-interview that would air as a part of Israel’s 70th birthday celebration.
“I was truly honoured to be named as a pro-Israel voice in America... I was rushed to the studio, production was a mess, I sat down and we started talking pro-Israel stuff, Israeli defence, and then out of left field the interviewer starts talking about how children should defend themselves against terrorist attacks.”
Walsh says that the interviewer (believed to have been Cohen) showed him multiple articles that featured children stopping terrorists and then instructed him to read off a teleprompter.
“I stopped and questioned their direction,” he continues. “And just like that producers rushed me out of the studio as an apparent fight broke out. Strangest interview of my life – don’t think they spoofed me very much.”
Walsh was eventually given a bogus pro-Israel award by the producers, who claimed Tony Blair, Rupert Murdoch, Bono, and Steven Spielberg had all previously won.
Palin told a similar story on Facebook, revealing that Cohen had posed an America war veteran to obtain an interview. She, too, was suspicious of the interview, going on to call Cohen’s humour “evil”.
Who is America? airs on Channel 4 on Monday, 16 July in the UK. Read everything we know about the show, including number of guests and trailers, here.
