An appeals court in New York dismissed a defamation suit filed by former Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore against actor Sacha Baron Cohen on Thursday.
The $95 million lawsuit, dismissed by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an affirmation of a lower court ruling last July, claimed Moore suffered defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraud when he was duped by Baron Cohen into giving an unflattering interview on Who is America? , a series that aired in 2017. In the skit, the comedian used a “pedophile detector” on the politician, an act the judge found Thursday was not intended to be taken seriously.
“Baron Cohen may have implied (despite his in character disclaimers of any belief that Judge Moore was a pedophile) that he believed Judge Moore’s accusers, but he did not imply the existence of any independent factual basis for that belief besides the obviously farcical pedophile detecting ‘device,’ which no reasonable person could believe to be an actual, functioning piece of technology,” the judge wrote.
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Moore willingly signed a disclosure agreement that protected Baron Cohen from lawsuits related to the show, the appeals court noted.
In the skit, Baron Cohen’s so-called pedophile detector lit up when pointed at Moore, an act the Alabama Republican deemed was “defamation.” Moore faced allegations that he attempted to date teenage girls when he was in his 30s, and the claims resurfaced during his candidacy in the 2017 special election for Alabama’s open Senate seat. He denied the allegations.
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Moore and his wife, Kayla, will appeal the ruling again, saying Baron Cohen’s “pusillanimous and fraudulent conduct must be stopped,” according to the Associated Press.
Moore lost the 2017 election to former Sen. Doug Jones, who flipped the seat to Democratic control for the first time in 25 years. Jones then lost in the 2020 election to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R).
