Sasha Baron Cohen, the man behind hidden prank shows and the Oscar-nominated film “Borat”, will be releasing a reality, mock television show for Showtime. In the show, he poses as a disabled war veteran and interviews right-wing figures, trying to make them look silly.
One of the right-wing folks he tried to dupe was Sarah Palin. According to Palin via the video above, Showtime asked her if they could interview her about veterans and veterans related issues. It turns out that Showtime really wanted Cohen to interview her and attempt to make her say something ridiculous.
Palin called Cohen’s act “sick” and claims he wanted to ridicule Republicans, veterans, and “Middle America”. She said that Cohen claimed to be a U.S military veteran, which Showtime denies. She said that the interview started off awkward when Cohen claimed he had “bone-spurs” in his “testicles”, and walked away when he was going on and on about gender confirmation surgeries for transgenders.
Is Palin correct here? Was Cohen trying to be mean to “regular Americans” and disrespecting our military by pretending to pose as one? On the left, the arguments seems to be that Palin deserves “it” and shows “snowflakism” from the right. Where do you guys stand?
As far as I can see, I have to back Palin on this one. Look, I think Palin was a lousy governor and do not like the fact that she aligns herself with the religious right. Lets keep in mind, Palin did veto a bill which would have provided benefits to state employees with same-sex partners. But setting aside my political objections, I do object to Showtime deceiving Palin. I do not care who the so-called “fool” is, you should be honest with the folks you’re interviewing.
He was not ridiculing veterans he was ridiculing Palin and her desire to use veterans to maintain her profile and relevance to the American people. Plus he is poking fun at the prevalent American culture of putting the military on a pedestal. His show is an irreverent look at all the facets of American culture. Of course it was awkward, Cohen creates an awkward environment for maximum effect.
Why would anyone think that Showtime would be doing a serious documentary on veterans? Documentaries are not a genre they are known for.
Awkward humor doesn’t really work for me. For instance, Napoleon Dynamite was very difficult for me to get through, while all my friends found it hilarious. It probably has to do with being an awkward child who turned into an awkward adult.
It might be easier now. I’ve embraced being awkward as a defining trait of who I am.
Does anyone actually care about what Sarah Palin is doing today? I feel she was a useful tool for a specific time, and now that her time is over we shouldn’t bother with her in any way. We shouldn’t make her life more difficult by ridiculing her, nor should we lift her up as bring her up in any way. She is simply another human being inhabiting God’s great earth, and no different than Adam to the rest of us. Lets let her die off into obscurity in peace, in the same way we’re letting Hilary Clinton face from the limelight.
The show is not a drama where a fictional tale or a historic event is being presented, it is an ambush interview show where the host passes himself off to the guest interviewees as being something he is not. In other words, he uses false pretenses to get his victims to agree to be interviewed. In the case of Palin, he pretended to be a wounded veteran. Dispcable at best, but “stolen valor” would be a fair description of what he did.
I agree with Samm. He’s doing it to fool someone into thinking he’s really a veteran, so he can profit from their actions after being fooled. Stolen valor. If not, then why did showtime deny he did it knowing he actually did?
