The chairman of the El Paso County Republican Party has announced plans to sue Sacha Baron Cohen over footage of the local politician used in the new satirical comedy Ali G: Who Iz I?
In the film, Michael Aboud is shown participating in a training program with another Cohen character, former Mossad terrorist expert Colonel Erran Morad, who teaches Aboud and his fellow Maga sympathizers self-defense techniques, including wearing protective plastic buttocks over clothing. He also teaches them how to shoot balls from the middle of those butts by manipulating a rubber penis up and down.
Aboud and a fellow student, former preacher and aspiring actor Joshua Loudermilk, are then recruited by Morad to assist in a mission to prevent the birth on American soil of the baby of a fictional South American drug lord, whom the Mossad has mistaken for Ali G.
This involves Aboud and Loudermilk helping Morad kidnap Ali G’s girlfriend, Julie (played by actor Morgana Robinson), while she is apparently out of labor. They drive her in a kebab van disguised as an ambulance to an abandoned and isolated medical facility where she gives birth (to a realistic prosthetic).
They then abandoned her in the facility while placing her live baby in a zip-top bag and driving him to Mexico. In the final reel, Loudermilk attempts to shoot fire from his fake buttocks, while Aboud makes the decision to drop the baby – then hanging from a drone at a considerable height – to the ground to prevent it from hitting American soil. The actions could only be extremely serious for a real baby.
Until the Guardian contacted Aboud on Tuesday, the businessman was unaware of his involvement in anything other than what he believed to be a non-fiction film. In a statement, Aboud called Baron Cohen “and his entire film crew…a bunch of liars (who) are deceiving people for their own gain. They claimed it was going to be a documentary about illegal immigrants crossing the border. Then they said they were adding this Israel Self-Defense guy.”
He added: “I think Sasha Cohen (sic) is a pervert. Additionally, he explained that Muslims are all gay because they follow Mohamid’s (sic) sexual practices. No one should spend a dime to watch anything he produces or appears in. I plan to sue him.”
When asked if he stood by his actions in the film, Aboud refused to comment.
The film repeatedly emphasizes that neither Aboud nor Loudermilk are “in on it.” Loudermilk did not respond to requests for comment, but his social media feed suggests a level of understanding of the project that is not shared by most of his fellow participants.
Earlier this week, Loudermilk posted on Facebook that “I got to spend 12 hours one-on-one with Sasha (sic) and he taught me so much about the joy of making others laugh” along with a link to a promotional video for the film, saying, “I’m in the trailer.” On January 10, he also posted a photo of himself, saying, “Hi. Finished the Sasha Cohen movie and ready for the sequel.”
Representatives for the film told the Guardian that Loudermilk was unaware of the true nature of the film.
Aboud’s shock at his involvement is particularly surprising given that he appears, along with Loudermilk, in the second trailer for the film, released a fortnight ago.
This clip alone contains considerable clues telling those involved that all is not what it seems. In his speech to recruits, Morad, who was a fixture on the show Who is America? by Baron Cohen in 2018, advises the group not to be fooled, because the immigrants they are against “are not coming here to mow your lawn, trim your trees, rake your leaves, clean your house, take care of your babies, bus your tables, wash your cars, paint your houses, build your fences, install your roofs, drywall, plumbing or electricity.” YOU.
Another section of the film involves Ali G hosting a web show about “free speech” in which he is given a questionable script to read by South African producer Dirk Visser, who could not be reached for comment.
The character also presides over a game show of Visser’s invention in which contestants, against the clock, must insert mannequins representing “undesirables”, including rappers, homosexuals, Muslims and Mexican babies, into fake shower stalls, before pressing a button to apparently activate the release of the toxic gas Zyklon B. The segment ends with a massive Nazi salute.
One of those participating is disgraced former Republican Congressman George Santos, who tells the camera that his takeaway from this game is that next time he’ll try to catch more babies, because they’re easier to put in the shower. In correspondence with the Guardian, Santos also suggested he was unaware of the true nature of the film, “as my team and I were not involved in it”, and refused to justify his behavior.
Gn entert
