Sacha Baron Cohen's new Showtime series, "Who Is America?," caused a stir before its premiere on Sunday, as several Republican politicians felt the need to get ahead of the show last week in explaining how Cohen "duped" them to appear on it.
Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, former congressman Joe Walsh, and former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore were among those who preceded the show's premiere with statements explaining their appearances on the series, and criticizing Cohen.
For the show's first episode, Cohen, disguised as an Israeli "anti-terror expert," roped several Republican congressmen and former elected officials into voicing their support for a program that would arm toddlers with guns to prevent school shootings. He also interviewed Senator Bernie Sanders as a different character.
Last week, Matt Drudge of The Drudge Report tweeted an extended list of political and media figures that Cohen had "finked" for the series. The list included Palin, Dick Cheney, Ted Koppell, and Howard Dean — all of whom we can expect to see in the show's subsequent six episodes.
Here are the notable people and politicians who have appeared on "Who Is America?" so far:
Senator Bernie Sanders
The show's first episode began with Cohen interviewing Vermont Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as a right-wing conspiracy theorist character called Billy Wayne Ruddick, Jr.
Sanders, with a perplexed expression, politely dodged and shut down various absurd questions from Cohen's Ruddick on income inequality and other topics.
Larry Pratt, executive director emeritus of Gun Owners of America
In the strongest segment on Sunday's episode, Cohen's Israeli "anti-terror expert" character, Col. Erran Morad, introduced Larry Pratt, the executive director emeritus of Gun Owners of America, and a number of other conservative political figures to a fake program called "Kinderguardians," which would arm children as young as 3 years old.
Pratt endorsed the program and, reading off a teleprompter, said "toddlers are pure, uncorrupted by fake news or homosexuality. They don't care if it's politically correct to shoot a mentally deranged gunman. They'll just do it."
Florida congressman Matt Gaetz
Cohen's Morad character interviewed Florida congressman Matt Gaetz for the segment on arming toddlers, but Gaetz wisely side-stepped the topic, saying, "typically members of Congress don't just hear a story about a program and then indicate whether they support it or not."
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