Georgia Politician Fights Terrorism by Mooning Sacha Baron Cohen

The costumed comedian finds that it's not that hard to dupe politicians with irrational fears.

Screenshot via YouTube/SHOWTIME

Footage from the second episode of Sacha Baron Cohen's Showtime series Who Is America? shows just how much some officials will do to be perceived as tough on terror.

Cohen, posing as an Israeli anti-terror expert, asked an unsuspecting Georgia state Rep. Jason Spencer (R-Woodbine) to take part in an anti-terrorism video. Spencer had previously generated controversy with his (now-abandoned) burqa ban legislation and his warning to a black lawmaker that she could "go missing" over some comments criticizing Confederate memorials.

Playing off Spencer's proposed legislation, Cohen convinces him that a way to successfully identify a terrorist under a burqa is to use a camera attached to a selfie stick to peer under her garments. Spencer tries to recreate the lesson while posing as a stereotypical Chinese tourist, which he does by shouting things like "dragon chopstick" and "sushi."

The training escalates when Cohen informs Spencer that a successful tactic to avoid an ISIS kidnapping is to scream the n-word. Spencer gamely screams it repeatedly during a kidnapping simulation. At another point, Cohen tells Spencer that ISIS members are afraid of being perceived as homosexual. Spencer is then persuaded to pull down his pants and run backward at Cohen, his buttocks out, while shouting "America!" and "USA!"

Last week Spencer issued a statement claiming that he was "fraudulently induced" to participate and that the show "took advantage of my fears that I would be attacked by someone."

Republican leaders in Georgia disavowed Spencer's actions. "Representative Spencer has disgraced himself and should resign immediately," said House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge), adding, "Georgia is better than this." Gov. Nathan Deal also reacted, saying, "There is no excuse for this type of behavior, ever, and I am saddened and disgusted by it."

Comments

[sarcasmic]

People actually think that guy is funny? They must. He's making money. Wow.

[John]

I am with you sarcasmic. I am all for making politicians of any stripe look stupid. But, I honestly don't see how this is funny. It is just lame.

[sarcasmic]

I've tried to watch some of this guy's stuff. Dictator or whatever. It makes me cringe. I can't do it.

[Juice]

Well, sorry but Borat was one of the funniest movies ever made. Bruno was not nearly as funny, but it still had its moments. The Dictator was a latter-day Adam Sandler movie with Cohen playing Adam Sandler, so of course it won't be funny.

What I can't believe is that no one clued in that this is someone in a ton of movie makeup. How did this mooner guy not see it and think something was fishy?

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""The Dictator was a latter-day Adam Sandler movie with Cohen playing Adam Sandler,"'

Now that's funny.

[John]

What was funny about Borat? The entire movie was Cohen going around and trying to make fools of ordinary people who never asked to be in the spotlight and mostly failing and making himself look like an asshole? To the extent that it was funny in the way Cohen intended, it was just because it attacked ordinary people who really can't defend themselves.

Something like Roger and Me was funny because Moore at least attacked someone who could defend themself. There is nothing funny about a bully. And that is all Cohen was in Borot. He just went around the country trying to trick people who couldn't defend themselves and were nearly always well meaning into making fools of themselves. it is a disgusting movie and Cohen a disgusting person.

[Teddy Pump]

Borat was hilarious, Bruno was painfully perverted & not funny at all!

[Wizard4169]

Cohen took a shtick that wasn't all that funny to start with and ran it into the ground. Of course, it doesn't say much for you if you actually fall for his painfully unfunny bullshit.

[John]

Cohen is actually a decent actor in other people's work. And the Alli G schtick was funny for a while. But it is really gotten old. The guy mooning him is probably the funniest thing Cohen has done in several years. The other thing is that he is more well known now and people are more likely to recognize him as the gun owner out in California did. He needs to get a new act or just go back to being an actor, which he is pretty talented at doing.

[DajjaI]

He's promoting hate of Israelis which is very antisemitic and he should be banned.

[Cy]

But liberal douche is a protected class.

[Earth Skeptic]

Meh. Cohen can find stupid people on the street, get them to act even more stupid, and capture the video. From the various "man on the street" bits on late night talk shows, to just about every reality show ever, I guess this will never get old enough. Enough of us must enjoy feeling marginally superior to the unlucky rube.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

You just described libertarians.

[John]

+100

[Calidissident]

In general I agree with you, but I don't think we should elect those rubes to public office.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Much better if they're appointed instead.

[Calidissident]

I said elected because it's true of this guy. I wouldn't want this guy appointed to public office either.

[mtrueman]

"Cohen can find stupid people on the street, get them to act even more stupid, and capture the video."

Finding stupid people, sure. It takes a true moran to elect them.

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Jay Leno's Jaywalking?

[Ken Shultz]

Cohen's repeated attempts to embarrass Americans over the years just comes across as elitism. The basic set up for the joke always seems to be the same: Americans think they're smart enough to make decisions for themselves, but they're actually a bunch of stupid rednecks. We Brits realized a long time ago that deferring to our superiors is the only way to go. That's why we don't have guns, but they do. That's why we Brits don't have free speech, but they do, . . .

I've never seen a look of dismay on a Brit's face like when I tell them, "Because that's the way you do things in the UK isn't a good reason to do anything". Always remember, they don't have the First and Second Amendments in the UK or Canada, or Australia--and that's often the reason behind why they look down on us. The First and Second Amendments aren't just a legal guarantee of our freedom--they're also what makes us American.

This is the best video of how Brits see Americans that's ever bee made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7APmRkatEU

They see us as a gun loving, religiously fanatical, hate speech loving, unbridled, capitalist voodoo cult, dancing off to God knows where for reasons Brits can't even begin to understand.

That's what Cohen's "This is America" is about.

He's afraid of Americans. The elites are afraid of America.

[John]

If you ever watch Borat, it unintentionally shows him to be an asshole and most Americans to be decent people. Nearly every scene consists of some dumfounded American going out of their way to be nice to him as he acts like a bigger and bigger asshole trying to provoke them. Borat ends up being a love letter to the reasonableness and painful politeness of ordinary Americans. I don't think Cohen intended it to be that way.

[Ken Shultz]

I'm sure it was unintentional.

[Nardz]

True.

The 2 best parts of Borat were when he starts throwing money at the "Jews" (roaches) in fear, and when the frat bros show him the Pam Anderson sex tape and "break his heart"

I laughed

[Alcibiades]

^ ^ ^ ^

This
His shtick achieves the opposite of the intended effect.

[A Thinking Mind]

That's what I always thought. There's a scene where he pretends he doesn't understand how bathrooms work and comes back to a woman with a bag full of poop. Like, the funny thing is just how understanding and generous the woman is who tries to literally leaves the table to take time to explain to him about modern plumbing.

These are the type of people he's making fun of. Polite and kind people going out of their way for a stranger.

[mtrueman]

"The elites are afraid of America."

A Brit with a college education is an elite in America.

"They see us as a gun loving, "

But mostly racist.

[sharmota4zeb]

And they think the Shard is a tall building on top of that.

[BILKER]

we must always remember that britain carved out a homeland for Jews in the hope that they would all emigrate. Remember also the not one european country would have lifted a finger to stop hitler if he had just kept killing Jews. when he started killing czhecs and poles among others they finally started to realize what the nazis really were. cohen is a prime example of this.

[Cynical Asshole]

Spencer later issued a statement claiming that he was "fraudulently induced" into participation and that the show "took advantage" of his fears that he would be attacked.

"Fraudulently induced" how? Did he think that he was actually dealing with a former Mossad agent who was actually teaching him Krav Maga? Anyone with half a brain should have realized after the first 5 seconds that this was bullshit. What a dipshit. Just take your lumps and shut the fuck up, or claim that you knew who he was the whole time and were in on the joke.

[NoVaNick]

My guess is that Spencer and most of the people duped by SBC probably have never seen Borat/Bruno or have any idea who he is since they are not part of the elite culture circle that makes up his audience, so he is able to pull off these antics.

[Eddy]

I think the Republican voters of his district have already defeated clown-boy's bid for re-election. Unless he runs as an independent or something, he will soon be out of there.

[loveconstitution1789]

He is in the Georgia House of Representatives from the district that covers Kings Bay Naval Base and St. Mary's, Georgia.

[NoVaNick]

Still waiting for Borat to expose the progs as the idiots, which should be just as easy as exposing religious wackos or rednecks. For example, I bet I could set up a table at the local farmers market to promote feces eating as a way to prevent climate change and they would eat it up, then film the whole thing. Of course, I would soon then be arrested, probably for bioterrorism, whereas Baron-Cohen would get a pass.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Penn and Teller's Bullshit did a pretty good job.

[NoVaNick]

Penn and Teller are too easily dismissed though because they are or used to be libertarians. If anyone ever effectively mocked the progs, they would get sued up the wazoo, or end up in jail.

[John]

Yup. And even Penn and Teller admit that even though they are atheists and enjoy mocking Christians they would never do the same to Muslims out of fear for their safety.

[sharmota4zeb]

Meh, being Jewish and bisexual means Muslim terrorists want to kill me twice. In for a pence, for a pound. 🙂

[perlchpr]

They're libertarians, not progs. There's no mandate to ignore reality.

[Teddy Pump]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!....So true!

[TrickyVic (old school)]

""The costumed comedian finds that it's not that hard to dupe politicians with irrational fears.""

Not just politicians.

[chipper me timbers]

The has got to be the biggest "who cares" of 2018 to date. WTF.

[Azathoth!!]

Does SBC think no one recognizes him?

[sharmota4zeb]

This reminds me of the time a picture of my bare ass almost ended up on the walls of the Dutch Parliament building. It's a long story. The short version: A photo of my bare ass was a small element in my Mohammed cartoon that I sent to that cartoon exhibit in Texas.

[Carter Mitchell]

Disgusted, Governor? Come on, it was hilarious!

[BILKER]

it's too bad cohens family escaped aushwitz. the asshat is and always has been an idiotic pig. he is racist in all ways. he is not funny in anything he does as it always demeans someone in the most disgusting ways.