Since Sacha Baron Cohen’s Who Is America has come out, it’s been a delightful and cringeworthy surprise every episode to see which GOP lawmaker he gets to drop their pants. For those not watching, he literally got a Georgia state representative to pull his pants down and yell racial slurs. While I want to completely blame the state rep for doing this, I also must ask, where are his damn staffers? I’ve watched enough West Wing to know they’re always close by and nervous about their boss’ every move. Feels like a set up on all accounts?
Anyways, Baron Cohen took a break from ruining the careers of politicians and decided to harass a public figure of another kind: cheese pasta loving Bachelor contestant with a nanny, Corinne Olympios. But why, you might ask? Is this retribution for napping through the rose ceremony? What does taking her down do for the public? Nothing really, and that’s the problem!
Olympios was asked to don an ebola suit, something she managed to still make sexy, and encourage people to adopt child soldiers. It’s nothing terrible, but it’s definitely strange and out of her wheelhouse. (Her wheelhouse, if you remember, includes bouncy houses and napping.) She had been told this was for winning “reality star of the year” for some random British outlet, and she did no research into it because, well, she’s Corinne.
But she knew something was shady when they took her phone from her and made her manager go away. It’s also obvious watching it that she is super uncomfortable. She told the Daily Beast, “I was getting really upset and I had no idea what was going on, I just want to get out of there, so I just did it.”
There seems to be no reason behind Baron Cohen pranking her, which feels extra mean? I’m all for a good all-American prank but do it to someone who deserves it, like racist politicians or Dick Cheney (another racist politician.) Also, pulling a woman into a fake photoshoot and then forcing her to do weird stuff she doesn’t really understand just feels like a bad look in 2018. Especially when part of that trick includes taking her phone and refusing to get her manager after multiple requests for them to be brought back in the room. Especially when that very same Bachelor contestant was embroiled in a pretty public sexual abuse-related scandal.
Luckily Corinne knows how to spin a story and released a statement saying “I’m so excited to be a part of his new project.” Like a true mogul, every prank is a project, all press is good press, etc etc. But next time, Baron Cohen should pick on someone who actually deserves it. *cough*Arie*cough*
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You’d think after Tina Fey helped her be the funniest woman of 2008 that Sarah Palin would be used to being taking a joke. After comedian Sacha Baron Cohen used her for his new Showtime series, “Who is America,” set to premiere July 15th at midnight, Palin is one unhappy Alaskan. When Cohen prank-interviewed her disguised as a veteran, Palin took to Facebook and wrote, “Yup – we were duped. Ya got me, Sacha. Feel better now? 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.” Ok, Sarah, just because you don’t think a comedian’s joke is funny doesn’t mean you have to put quotation marks around the word comedian. It’s not like I’m calling Trump the “president.” Ok, maybe I am…
Palin’s distaste for the way Cohen and Showtime handled her and her daughter’s interview continued as she described sitting 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.” Damn, what is a Hollywoodism? Also, did Sarah Palin just try to beat Obama’s mic drop? You can’t do that with body mics, Sarah!
Palin reported that the production company purposefully dropped her and her daughter off at the wrong D.C. airport so that they would miss their flight back to Alaska, which would be pretty petty for a major television network. To compensate for her humiliation and inconvenience, Palin suggested that the proceeds of the show be donated to “a charitable group that actually respects and supports American Vets.”
While most of the details about the show’s concept are still under wraps, Cohen tweeted two teasers for the series on Twitter, one of which features former Vice President Dick Cheney being asked to sign a waterboarding kit. Cheney, who told “Meet the Press” in 2014 that waterboarding was “not torture,” agrees to sign the kit and says, “That’s a first. That’s the first time I’ve signed a waterboard.” So. Looks like it’s pretty safe to say this show will be amazing.
— Sacha Baron Cohen (@SachaBaronCohen) July 8, 2018
Palin ended her Facebook rant with a spicy stab of “By the way, my daughter thinks you’re a piece of ****, Sacha. Every honorable American Vet should feel the same.” However, Showtime CEO David Nevins defended Cohen and the series adding, “He is the premier provocateur of our time, but not for the sake of ‘gotcha’ moments. Behind the elaborate setup is a genuine quest for the truth about people, places and politics.” Hell yeah, this sounds like “60 Minutes” meets “Between Two Ferns.” Now let’s just hope he edits Tina Fey into the interview after Palin’s mic drop.
Heads up, you need to keep up with the news. It’s not cute anymore. That’s why we’ve created a 5x weekly newsletter called The ‘Sup that will explain all the news of the week in a hilarious af way. Because if we weren’t laughing, we’d be crying. Sign up for The ‘Sup now!
