Sacha Baron Cohen Beats Roy Moore’s $95M ‘Who Is America?’ Defamation Suit

EXCLUSIVE: 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 today 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 Judge John P. Cronan in an opinion released this Emmy nominations morning (read it here).

After having appeared on the third episode of the 2018 Showtime satire, the former Yellowhammer state judicial official proclaimed he had been hoodwinked into going before the cameras and sued for some pretty big bucks. To be specific, Moore, who faced an avalanche of sexual misconduct with minors allegations during his unsuccessful 2017 Senate bid, alleged in his initial September 2018 filing that his signature on a release “was obtained through fraud” and therefore “void and inoperative.”

Citing the very same release the Larry Klayman-represented-Moore had in fact signed, the Borat star disagreed and the matter went from D.C. District Court to federal court in the Empire State – and that’s where it ended today.

“The Court agrees that Judge Moore’s claims are barred by the unambiguous contractual language, which precludes the very causes of action he now brings,” U.S. District Court Judge Cronan wrote in the 26-page decision against Judge Moore and his co-plaintiff spouse. “Although Kayla Moore was not a signatory to that contract, her claims are barred by the First Amendment. Accordingly, Defendants’ motion is granted in its entirety.”

Noting the larger context of Who Is America? and other segments with former VP Dick Cheney and more, Judge Cronan added that “it is simply inconceivable that the Program’s audience would have found a segment with Judge Moore activating a supposed pedophile-detecting wand to be grounded in any factual basis.” He went on to say: “Given the satirical nature of that segment and the context in which it was presented, no reasonable viewer would have interpreted Cohen’s conduct during the interview as asserting factual statements concerning Judge Moore.”

Or, coming one day after Cohen himself sued a cannabis company for unlawful use of his image, as Borat Sagdiyev would say: “High five!”

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