Does Sacha Baron Cohen Hate Muslims?

Hate is a strong word and Sasha Baron Cohen has called out the more extreme strains of Islamophobia. That said, he engages in deceitful practices that align him with Israeli state narratives. This has placed him in bed with the US national security state, and hersquo;s not afraid to smash some innocent eggs in making his billion-dollar omelette.

Alan Macleod from the Glasgow University Media Group has recently conducted a fantastic critique of Baron Cohen based on new research and Freedom of Information Act requests. While I dislike personal attacks and am never in favor of cancel culture, Baron Cohen does warrant this critique based on the following points.

Deceptive Practices and Alliances

The Department of Defense was involved in the production of the 2009 mockumentary ldquo;Brünordquo;. In his quest to become more heterosexual, Brüno visited a military base in Alabama. The scenes on the base felt staged, with officers setting him up for a series of one-liners. The production companyrsquo;s version of events is that they lied to the National Guard to gain filming permission and then fled the base with the guards chasing them. Their car apparently just made it out in time, squeezing under a rapidly closing front gate. Hmmm, yeh right.

On ldquo;Brünordquo;, Baron Cohen interviewed a man he called a ldquo;terroristrdquo; who he had found through a contact at the CIA. This was Palestinian grocer and NGO worker Ayman Abu Aita, who denied he was a terrorist. He claimed that Baron Cohen had told him the interview would be about his peace activism, and that his life and business had been destroyed as a result. Abu Aita sued for nearly 100 million US dollars. The case was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2012.

Controversial Characters and Criticism

While in character as Brüno in Jerusalem, Baron Cohen was badly beaten by an enraged crowd of homophobic Israelis. Angered by his camp and sacrilegious attire, the crowd stoned him on camera. According to the CIA contact, Baron Cohen told him a rabbi spat on him. This was the only time in his career that he broke character and desperately yelled that he was an Israeli Jew, not a homosexual foreigner. The comedian fled literally for his life and found refuge in a nearby store bathroom. The footage has never emerged, even though it would presumably highlight racism, supposedly what Baron Cohen is all about. Wrong racists.

Beyond that, Baron Cohen has produced and starred in ldquo;The Spyrdquo;, the 2017 miniseries that lionizes Mossadrsquo;s activities in Syria in the 1960s. He also made the derisory ldquo;The Dictatorrdquo; which was filmed just as NATO was invading Libya, and ldquo;The Brothers Grimsbyrdquo;, which a colleague of mine calls ldquo;one of the most vicious attacks on the Northern England working classes Irsquo;ve ever seenrdquo;. Itrsquo;s on my list to watch. Additionally, in the real world, he is a very vocal supporter of the ADL and Macleod elaborates that he appears to idolize Shimon Peres, the former Israeli president, who was a key figure in the 1948 war, attempted to sell nuclear weapons to Apartheid South Africa, and carried out the ethnic cleansing of the Galilee region.

Political Vision and Tactics

I was late to the party on this one. I have laughed a lot at Baron Cohen since the 1990s. It wasnrsquo;t until 2020 that I started to become uncomfortable when seeing him manipulate footage of Rudy Guiliani in the sequel to Borat, which made the former Mayor of New York appear like a sex pest. Baron Cohenrsquo;s justifications for this afterwards were equally underhand and self-congratulatory. Hersquo;s clearly a man driven by a political vision that many would consider unpalatable and is prepared to pursue it with tactics that are at best merciless.

Further Reading

There are many more details in Macleodrsquo;s article and illustrated video explanation. I also link here to Jimmy Dorersquo;s interview with the former CIA adviser, which begins with a mention of my latest co-created documentary Th22 2022.

Main Takeaways includegles, mentioning: Sacha Baron Cohen and his controversial methods Islamophobia and his stance His connection with Israel and the US national security state Deceptive practices in his mockumentaries and films Personal attacks and cancel culture