HE’S the controversial comedy actor who has made an army of enemies during his three-decade-long career.
Now Sacha Baron Cohen, 52, has been accused of being a “bully” by the Australian actress Rebel Wilson, who starred as his love interest in 2016 film Grimsby.
The star, 44, revealed the London-born actor was the “massive a***hole” who, she claimed, had threatened legal action over sections of her upcoming memoir Rebel Rising that featured him.
Yesterday, Rebel wrote on Instagram: “I will not be bullied or silenced with high priced lawyer or PR crisis managers.
“The ‘a**hole’ that I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is Sacha Baron Cohen.”
Previously, she claimed Sacha – who has been married to Isla Fisher since 2010 – tried to pressure her to “go naked” in the film because it would be “hilarious”.
In a statement, Sacha’s rep said: “While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage, and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby,”
Sacha is no stranger to controversy having had more than his fair share of feuds over the decades – and has even had to resort to wearing a bulletproof vest to protect himself in the past.
From his lengthy beefy with Donald Trump to a fiery clash with a Britpop star, we look at the growing band of A-list enemies the star has made.
‘Ruined marriage’
Sacha’s first satirical film Borat ruffled a number of feathers when it was released in 2006 – including, unsurprisingly, the nation of Kazakhstan, who banned it immediately.
But one unexpected casualty of the flick, which followed a Kazakh TV reporter with outdated views on a trip to America, was the marriage of Pamela Anderson and US country star Kid Rock.
In the film, Sacha’s character proposed to the Baywatch star before attempting to force the star into a “traditional marriage sack” to abduct her and chased her around a supermarket.
While fans found it hilarious, it’s claimed Kid Rock – real name Robert James Ritchie – was far from impressed and went on a furious rant after watching it.
An insider told New York Post: “Bob started screaming at Pam, saying she had humiliated herself and telling her, ‘You’re nothing but a w****! You’re a s***! How could you do that movie?’ — in front of everyone. It was very embarrassing,”
Sacha later claimed the film contributed to Pamela filing for divorce from Kid Rock, just four months after they had tied the knot. Their divorce was finalised in 2007.
In 2019, he told The Last Laugh podcast that he had texted the actress to find out how the screening went only for her to reply: “We’re getting divorced.”
Sacha continued: “I was like, why? And she goes, ‘The movie.’ And I thought it was a joke, but then a few weeks later they got divorced and they put as a reason for divorce, Borat.”
Stabbing threat
Sacha amusingly based the hair-do and fashion sense of footballer-hooligan character Nobby, from Grimsby, on Liam Gallagher – but even before then the duo had locked horns.
The actor revealed a fiery argument with the ex-Oasis frontman at the 2012 GQ Awards because he didn’t tell a planned gag about the singer.
“So Liam Gallagher comes over and says, ‘Why the f*** didn’t you take the p*** out of me tonight?” Sacha recalled on the US talk show Conan.
“And I said, ‘I just didn’t get round to it’, and he said, ‘Do you know what? I’m going to stab you in the eye.’”
“I thought to myself, ‘I’ve never heard such a specific threat. That’s a good aim.’ Anyway, eventually he didn’t stab me.”
When Liam’s agent was approached for comment about the claims, he replied: “Liam wants to clarify that it wasn’t just the one eye, it was both.”
In 2018, when recalling the incident to Junkee, the singer said Sacha was “full of s***” and said he made the threat “because he was getting lippy”.
Liam added: “I think he doing the rounds, he was selling some f***in’ s*** film that he’d done. He was trying to bring me into the fray and that.
“I think he’s more one of Noel’s mates, he’s over on Bono’s side. I think he’s over on that f***in’ [makes an illuminati sign]. Scientology f***ing, that side. He’s one of them isn’t he, thinks he’s all illuminati and that. F***ing k***heads, all of them.”
Queen fallout
Sacha was branded “an arse” by legendary guitarist Brian May after they fell out over the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody.
The actor, who was being lined up to play Freddie Mercury, said the band “wanted to protect their legacy” and planned to skip over “wild” scenes.
“There are amazing stories about Freddie Mercury,” Sacha told US radio host Howard Stern. “The guy was wild. There are stories of little people walking around parties with plates of cocaine on their heads!”
He’s a bad guy, he’s a moron… he would get no ratings, nobody cares about him
Donald Trump
He later added that while Brian was an “amazing musician” he was “not a great movie producer”, which led to him quit the film – which would later star Rami Malek.
Brian disputed his account, telling the Mail on Sunday’s Event magazine: “Sacha became an arse. We had some nice times with Sacha kicking around ideas, but he went off and told untruths about what happened.
“Why would he go away and say that we didn’t want to make a gritty film? Are we the kind of people who have ever ducked from the truth? I don’t think so.”
The musician sneaked in a further dig by saying he “wasn’t right the role for very good reasons” that were clear “if you watch what he’s done recently”.
17-year feud
Sacha beef with Donald Trump began when the actor interviewed him as Ali G for his HBO show in 2003 and tried to flog him a glove that protects people from dripping ice cream cones.
The future US President didn’t see the funny side, storming out after seven minutes, and later he claimed Sacha “misrepresented” the chat, which Trump thought was for the BBC.
In 2016, Sacha claimed he was “the first person to actually realise that he’s a d***” and compared him to “this kind of villain in a bad Batman movie”.
Trump also lambasted the comedian after he dumped pretend ashes over Ryan Seacrest on the 2012 Oscars red carpet as part of a stunt for his film The Dictator.
He said: “I can tell you if that happened to me, or if that happened to people I know, that guy would have been unconscious laying on the ground and nobody would have blamed us.
“He’s a bad guy, he’s a moron… he would get no ratings, nobody cares about him”.
In 2018, Sacha used recordings from Trump, where he described the comedian as a “third-grade character” who should “go to school” and “learn about being funny” in an amusing video online.
In 2020, Trump was quizzed about Sacha again after his lawyer Rudy Giuliana appeared to be in a compromising position with an actor during a set-up in the sequel to Borat.
When asked about his concerns over White House breaches, Trump raged: “I don’t find him funny. To me, he’s a creep.”
In response, Sacha thanked the US President for “the free publicity” and added: “I admit, I don’t find you funny either. But yet the whole world laughs at you.”
£75M lawsuit
Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore tried to sue the actor for defamation in a £75million lawsuit after appearing on Who Is America back in 2018.
During the skit, Sacha appeared as a fake counterterrorism instructor who demoed a ‘paedophile detecting wand’ and the fake device beeped repeatedly when it got closer to Mr Moore.
Mr Moore, who had signed a non-disclosure agreement that prohibited legal claims from his appearance, lost the 2022 case after three judges ruled the segment was “clearly comedy”.
Close scrapes
Sacha’s extreme characters have also put him in danger.
He recalled being “fortunate to make it out in one piece” while filming with pro-gun activists at a rally in Washington State for the Borat sequel, where he performed as a right-wing singer.
“When organisers finally stormed the stage, I rushed to a nearby get-away vehicle,” Sacha said.
“An angry crowd blocked our way and started pounding on the vehicle with their fists.
“Under my overalls, I was wearing a bulletproof vest, but it felt inadequate with some people outside toting semiautomatic weapons.”
If Facebook were around in the 1930s, it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his ‘solution’ to the ‘Jewish problem’.
Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha also had a close shave while filming Bruno and had to escape through a trap door after angering MMA fans, in Arkansas.
He said: “I posed as an ultimate fighter at a cage match and challenged anyone in the audience to take me on.
“When my fake ex-boyfriend volunteered, we engaged in some heavy petting, triggering a near riot.
“The crowd—including some recently paroled prisoners with swastika tattoos—erupted in homophobic slurs and started hurling metal chairs at us.
“Had I not ducked into a trapdoor and out an escape tunnel, I think the crowd would have beaten me senseless.”
Facebook rants
It’s not just celebrities and politicians who Sacha has taken aim at either, he branded tech platforms Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google “the greatest propaganda machines in history”.
He blamed a rise in hate crimes and “murderous attacks on religious and ethnic minorities” on a “handful of internet companies”, in a speech at The Anti-Defamation League in 2019.
Sacha continued: “If you pay them, Facebook will run any ‘political’ ad you want, even if it’s a lie… if Facebook were around in the 1930s, it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his ‘solution’ to the ‘Jewish problem’.”
At the time, a spokesperson for Facebook said the actor had “misrepresented Facebook’s policies” and insisted it banned people who advocated for violence.
One year later, when Mark Zuckerberg was questioned about misinformation on the platform by Congress, Sacha reignited his feud with the tech boss.
On X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: “A good question for Mark Zuckerberg when he appears before Congress on Tuesday: Facebook says it does not allow a person who ‘advocates…acts of violence’.
“Yet you’ve granted an exception to Steven Bannon, who advocates for the murder and beheading of Dr. [Anthony] Fauci. WHY?!”
It followed Mr Bannon, Donald Trump’s former strategist, calling for the US government’s leading infectious disease expert Dr Fauci’s head to be put on a spike outside the White House.
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
