Former U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore has filed a $95 million lawsuit against Sacha Baron Cohen and Showtime, claiming his portrayal on “Who Is America?” was defamatory and caused his family emotional distress.
In the lawsuit filed in the D.C. district court on Wednesday, Moore claims Cohen and Showtime “fraudulently induced Judge Moore into this interview” by telling him he was to receive an award from the fictional Yerushalayim TV network, and then “falsely and without any substantiated factual basis, portrayed Judge Moore as a pedophile and a sex offender.”
In the third episode of the Cohen’s new Showtime series, which aired in July, the comedian interviewed the former Alabama judge while posing as an Israeli anti-terrorism expert named Erran Morad.
Drawing on the allegations that Moore pursued relationships with underage girls in the past, Cohen pretended to demonstrate a device that could detect sex offenders, at which point Moore ended the interview.
“Judge Moore has been the subject of widespread ridicule and humiliation and has suffered severe loss of reputation, which has in turn also caused him, Mrs. Moore, and his entire family severe emotional distress and pain and financial damage, especially given his status as a prominent conservative and a God fearing person of faith,” the lawsuit reads.
Moore is asking for a jury trial and $95 million in damages.
When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Showtime said, “the press has been sent copies of an alleged complaint, yet to our knowledge Showtime has not been served. With that said, we do not comment on pending litigation.”