Roy Moore sues Sacha Baron Cohen for $95 million over Who Is America?'s pedophile detector segment

AL.com

Cohen, no stranger to being sued over his pranks, has been hit with the first lawsuit over his Showtime series. The former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice's lawsuit also targets CBS and Showtime. "Defendant Cohen and his agents including Defendants Showtime and CBS made false and defamatory statements concerning Judge Moore by calling, representing and publishing within this district, the nation and the world, with malice, that Judge Moore a pedophile and a sex offender on Who is America?" the lawsuit said. The suit also states that Moore and his wife were deceived into traveling to Washington, D.C. where the segment was taped, after they were told he would receive an award for his strong support of Israel. "Had Judge Moore and Mrs. Moore known that Defendant Cohen had fraudulently induced Judge Moore into this interview, which as a 'set up' to harm and thus damage Plaintiffs and the rest of their entire family, Judge Moore would not have agreed to appear," said the lawsuit. As The New York Times recently pointed out, any lawsuit filed against Cohen will be hard to win because "prospective prank victims signed releases designed to indemnify Mr. Cohen and his producers from legal claims" and because public figures like Moore have a higher bar to clear to prove defamation.