Judge Dismisses Roy Moore’s $95 Million Lawsuit Against Sacha Baron Cohen

A federal court on July 13 dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Sacha Baron Cohen filed by Roy Moore, Alabama’s former chief justice who ran for a U.S Senate seat from the state.

Moore sued Baron Cohen after being interviewed under the claim that he would be given an award for supporting Israel.

During the interview, Baron Cohen pretended to be an Israeli anti-terrorism expert and said he had the technology that would show if Moore was a pedophile – referring to previous sexual misconduct allegations made against him – for the show Who Is America?

The sexual misconduct allegations were made against Moore in 2017 in the course of his U.S. Senate run. He was accused of being sexually inappropriate with teenagers.

A year later in 2018, Baron Cohen interviewed Moore for Who Is America? Baron Cohen said he had a device that identified pedophiles, which made a beeping noise when he pointed it towards Moore.

Moore proceeded to cut off the interview and said, “I support Israel. I don’t support this kind of stuff.”

Moore sued Baron Cohen, as well as Showtime and CBS in 2018 seeking $95 million in damages.

Moore and his wife Kayla Moore accused Baron Cohen of defamation,  intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the case on July 13 because Moore had signed a waiver before the interview. Due to First Amendment protections, Moore’s suit was barred.

An appointee of former President Donald Trump, Judge John P. Cronan, dismissed Moore and his wife’s claims.

Moore’s attorney, Larry Klayman, filed a notice of his client’s intention to appeal the decision made on July 13.

Russell Smith, counsel for Baron Cohen, said that no logical viewer could have seen the interview as anything other than a joke. Smith said he was “very happy that justice has been done.”