Sacha Baron Cohen Pranked a Far-Right Rally as a Racist Country Singer

Sacha Baron Cohen has had few problems disguising himself and getting people to act on their worst impulses.

Over the weekend the comedian (Borat, Who Is America) infiltrated a meeting by the militia group the Three Percenters, which the Southern Poverty Law Center labels as extreme antigovernment movement. “The reference to 3 percent stems from the dubious historical claim that only 3 percent of American colonists fought against the British during the War of Independence,” as the SPLC notes.

According to Consequence of Sound, Cohen (not under his real name, but possibly under the group moniker Back to Work USA) pitched his act and offered to cover costs of the stage and sound system for the event, held in Olympia, WA. The group also booked country legend Larry Gatlin, who did appear at the concert.

In overalls and a fake beard, Cohen got about eight minutes of stage time where he led singalongs about injecting the “Wuhan Flu” into Barack Obama and Dr. Anthony Fauci. After the prank was uncovered, Cohen was able to continue for a few minutes with the help of his own security and then escaped via an ambulance … only to return in a different disguise to interview people about what happened.

City council member James Conner Blair was not amused, calling it a “bullshit stunt” and lamented the comedian singing a “bunch of racist, hateful, disgusting shit” (which, again, the crowd seemed to enjoy).

This post is by a city council member in Yelm, Washington. Earlier this afternoon, Sacha Baron Cohen crashed the event of Washington 3% – a right-wing group of armed insurrectionists and white supremacists – in Olympia.

I look forward to the video… pic.twitter.com/zilUA2zJQU

— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) June 28, 2020

Matt Marshall, the founder of the Washington Three Percenters, admits they were duped.

“A guy that’s like wearing almost a clown suit of red, white and blue gets up there,” Marshall told NPR. “Obvious disguise. Like a fake nose and chin. And he starts playing and the first thought when you hear his voice is, ‘Dude, is this like a bad impression of Borat?’ ”

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