Sacha Baron Cohen Again Beats Roy Moore’s $95M ‘Who Is America?’ Defamation Suit, Wins Appeal
07.07.2022 - 19:01
/ deadline.com
UPDATED, 8:48 AM: A year after a federal judge first found in Sacha Baron Cohen’s favor, the Who Is America? host finally achieved victory in the almost-absurd $95 million defamation battle with Roy Moore.
In a unanimous vote made public this morning, a trio of judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the July 2021 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge John P. Cronan. Siding with the acclaimed satirist against failed Alabama Senate candidate Moore, the appeals court declared that Who Is America? was “clearly comedy and that no reasonable viewer would conclude otherwise” (read it here).
“After nearly four years of litigation, it seems Mr. Moore’s frivolous lawsuit is finally over,” Baron Cohen’s lawyer Russell Smith said to Deadline today.
PREVIOUS EXCLUSIVE, July 13, 2021: It looks like Sacha Baron Cohen is getting the last laugh over failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. After almost three years of legal dogfighting between the savvy Who Is America? frontman and the scandal-plagued Moore, a federal judge Tuesday has put the kibosh on the latter’s $95 million defamation lawsuit.
“Defendants have moved for summary judgment, arguing that Plaintiffs’ claims are barred by both a waiver clause in the agreement that Judge Moore signed prior to the interview and also by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” said U.S. District Court Judge John P. Cronan in an opinion (read it here) released on Emmy nominations morning.
After having appeared on the third episode of the 2018 Showtime satire, the former Alabama state judicial official proclaimed he had been hoodwinked into going before the cameras, suing for some pretty big bucks.
To be specific, Moore, who faced an avalanche of allegations of sexual misconduct