Click here to see updated post on the dismissal of the suit
Former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is suing Sacha Baron Cohen, CBS, and Showtime for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraud, for implying that he is a pedophile on the July 29 episode of Cohen’s satirical show “Who Is America?”
Moore is seeking $95 million in punitive and compensatory damages, according to the lawsuit.
Moore flew to Washington, D.C. under the false impression that he was receiving an award for his support for Israel. Instead, he was interviewed by Cohen, who was playing an Israeli anti-terrorism expert. Cohen showed him a piece of equipment, purportedly developed by Israel, that detected sex offenders, and the device went off when shown to Moore.
“This false and fraudulent portrayal and mocking of Judge Moore as a sex offender, on national and international television, which was widely broadcast in this district on national television and worldwide, has severely harmed Judge Moore’s reputation and caused him, Mrs. Moore, and his entire family, severe emotional distress, as well as caused and will cause Plaintiffs financial damage,” the lawsuit states.
The Washington Post published a Pulitzer Prize winning investigation in November 2017 about six women who claimed that Moore, who at the time was running for the Senate, pursued them as teenage girls while he was in his 30s.
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