Sacha Baron Cohen has defeated an appeal in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit brought by a former US Supreme Court judge who he mocked in his satirical comedy series Who Is America?
A trio of judges upheld a 2021 ruling against Roy Moore and agreed that the claims made by him and his wife were “without merit”.
Mr Moore originally brought the lawsuit after appearing on a segment of the show, in which he was convinced to fly to Washington DC to receive a prize in honour of his support for Israel.
He was interviewed by Baron Cohen, who was in character as an Israeli anti-terrorism expert, who later used a fictional device that could allegedly “identify abnormalities” including “sex offenders and particularly paedophiles”.
Mr Moore and his wife sued the comedian for 95 million dollars (£80 million) for causing “intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud”, as well as making a defamation claim.
The lawsuit was dismissed in July 2021 after it was found that their claims were “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 US Constitution.”
In a ruling made on Thursday the judges stated: “We agree with the District Court that the segment at issue was clearly comedy and that no reasonable viewer would conclude otherwise.”
“We have considered the Plaintiffs’ remaining arguments and conclude that they are without merit.
“For the foregoing reasons, the order of the District Court is affirmed.”