Showtime teased a surprise new Sacha Baron Cohen series on the 4th of July, and over the course of the last week, we’ve gained a few new details about the satirical series. It’s called Who Is America?, and the seven-episode series will kick off this Saturday, July 15th, with the first of seven half-hour episodes. Baron will be trying out a new character — or characters — and we know about at least one of his interview subjects will be Dick Cheney. The former Vice President agreed to sign a waterboarding kit for the Sacha Baron Cohen character.
With only a few more days until it debuts, we are now learning that another one of those interview subjects is Sarah Palin and one of her daughters. Baron’s character in that interview is a “heavily disguised …. disabled U.S. Veteran, fake wheelchair and all.” Palin took to Facebook to complain that she got duped by Sacha Baron Cohen, writing “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.”
We are not privy to the content of the interview, but it’s not likely to paint a flattering portrait of Palin given the tone of her Facebook post:
For my interview, my daughter and I were asked to travel across the country where Cohen (I presume) had heavily disguised himself as a disabled US Veteran, fake wheelchair and all. Out of respect for what I was led to believe would be a thoughtful discussion with someone who had served in uniform, I sat 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. The disrespect of our US military and middle-class Americans via Cohen’s foreign commentaries under the guise of interview questions was perverse.
Here is my challenge, shallow Sacha boy: go ahead — air the footage. Experience tells us it will be heavily edited, not pretty, and intended to humiliate.
If Ali G and Borat are any indication, whatever humiliation the interview brings Sarah Palin will be mostly self-inflicted.
Palin has also asked that Showtime and its parent company, CBS, donate whatever proceeds it may receive from the episode to a charitable group for American vets, while also taking issue with Baron for mocking “those who have fought and served for our country.”
Palin also added that after the interview, Palin and her daughter were driven to the wrong airport by the production team, causing them to miss their flight back to Alaska. She added, “my daughter thinks you’re a piece of ****.”
