Former US Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has attacked comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, saying he tricked her into an interview for his upcoming series by claiming to be a wounded veteran.
The former governor of Alaska called the Borat actor “evil, exploitative and sick”, saying she was “duped” her into an interview for the series, Who Is America?
The series for the Showtime channel sees Mr Cohen, the satirist, go undercover to film a range of political and cultural figures.
The show is expected to include interviews with Bernie Sanders and ex-Vice President Dick Cheney, as well as Mrs Palin.
Hitting out at the comedian on Faceboo,k Mrs Palin wrote: “Yup – we were duped. Ya’ got me, Sacha. Feel better now? I join a long list of American public personalities who have fallen victim to the evil, exploitive, sick ‘humor’ of the British ‘comedian.’”
She said the comedian and actor made her into travel to Washington DC with one of her daughters for the interview.
Mrs Palin, who was a vice-presidential candidate, said she agreed to the interview because she thought it was for a “legit” historical documentary.
She said Mr Cohen “had heavily disguised himself as a disabled US Veteran, fake wheelchair and all.
"Out of respect for what I was led to believe would be a thoughtful discussion with someone who had served in uniform, I sat through a long ‘interview’ full of Hollywoodism’s disrespect and sarcasm.”
Mrs Palin also accused the show’s producers of purposely dropping her and her daughter off at the wrong airport, after she had abandoned the “sick” interview.
“Showtime production team purposefully dropped my daughter and me off at the wrong Washington, DC airport after the fake interview, knowing we’d miss all flights back home to Alaska.
“After refusing to take our calls to help get us out of the bind they’d put us in for three days, I wrote this off as yet another example of the sick nature that is media-slash-entertainment today,” she wrote.
The 2008 vice-presidential candidate challenged Mr Baron Cohen to donate profits from the series, which begins on Sunday in the US, to a charitable group that supports American veterans.
Mr Baron Cohen made his name interviewing people in-character, including Ali G, Borat and Bruno.
Who Is America? will begin airing on Channel 4 from Monday.
