Actor Baron Cohen asks judge to dismiss Roy Moore case



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MONTGOMERY, Alaska (AP) – Actor Sacha Baron Cohen has asked a federal judge to dismiss Roy Moore's defamation suit following a television report that had subjugated him as a result. allegations of sexual misconduct.

Baron Cohen, Showtime Networks and CBS lawyers wrote last week in a joint court that Moore signed an agreement waiving any lawsuit before appearing in the movie "Who's America?" segment. They indicated in the agreement that Moore had waived the claims related to the program and anyone associated with this program. They also said that the segment was satire and is protected by the First Amendment.

"This lawsuit is in direct contradiction to the First Amendment's long tradition of protection against political parody and satire of public figures – particularly when satirical work" could not reasonably be construed as stating real facts about public personality ", have written lawyers.

The segment took place after Moore was accused of misbehavior during the 2017 Senate race in Alabama. He denied the allegations and went back to the Senate in 2020.

Moore said that he had received a reward for his support for Israel when he had agreed to participate in the show. Instead, Baron Cohen called him a possible pedophile.

In the segment, Baron Cohen appeared as a fake-terror instructor "Colonel Erran Morad", discussing a fictional military technology, including an alleged pedophile detector. The device repeatedly pealed as he approached Moore, who was sitting face-down.

Moore argued that the waiver was obtained fraudulently because it did not disclose that he was dealing with comics.

Baron Cohen has already been the subject of legal action for similar jokes, but these actions were launched because individuals had signed releases.

In 2008, a New York judge dismissed lawsuits filed by a driving instructor and two school teachers of precepts who claimed to have been fooled into the movie "Borat" in which Baron Cohen embodies a clumsy foreign journalist traveling in the USA. The judge said he accepted money and signed agreements relieving the filmmakers of any responsibility.

Moore agreed to accept $ 200 for the organization of his choice, in accordance with the agreement.

Moore filed the complaint in Washington, DC, but it was moved to New York, where the agreement states that disputes will be heard.

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