Sacha Baron Cohen trolled a right-wing gathering with a racist sing-along
Whether you love him or hate him, there's no denying that Sacha Baron Cohen gets results.
The latest proof we have is a stunt that saw the comedian – a word that really fails to capture the extent of Cohen's schtick – take the stage at a rally put together by a right-wing militia group. He sang an overtly racist protest-style song and got the enthusiastic crowd to sing along. That's how he rolls.
The rally was put together by a militia group that call themselves the Washington Three Percenters. The "three percenter" thing is a reference to what the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a "dubious" claim "that only 3 percent of American colonists fought against the British during the War of Independence." The definition appears in SPLC's rundown of "antigovernment movements."
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As confirmed by Variety, Cohen apparently disguised himself as the head of a political action committee that stepped in as a donor to sponsor the event. That gave him and his people control of event security, meaning he was able to remain on stage even after the event's organizers realized something was amiss.
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Cohen used his time on stage to sing a call-and-response kind of song in which he exhorted the crowd to join in on his calls to "inject" various public figures – including Barack Obama, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and others – with the "Wuhan flu." (That term is one of several racist depictions of COVID-19 that Donald Trump and his adherents have embraced.)
In an interview conducted after Cohen's stunt, one of the event's organizers laid out the whole story. He also places the blame, without evidence, on Washington State's Democratic party, and Gov. Jay Inslee specifically, because... why not?
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While the organizer decries Cohen's "racist" song, he fails to mention the fact that event attendees enthusiastically joined in on the call-and-response. He also conveniently overlooks the fact that Cohen's whole thing is to catch the targets of his commentary-focused humor off guard by slipping into various roles that get them comfortable enough to let their inner truths fly.
Is it duplicitous? Sure! That's the whole point. In his 2018 Showtime series Who is America?, Cohen put his particular creative approach to good use in getting public figures the head of a pro-gun group and a conservative (in fact, racist) politician to willingly show their own asses.
There's some suspicion that this latest stunt is meant to be part of an eventual second season for the Showtime series. The cable network hasn't said anything about future plans for the show since the first season ended, though, so this could just be Cohen doing his thing for shits and giggles and social media virality.
Mission accomplished.
Topics Activism Celebrities
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
