Posted on 07/18/2018 7:55:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
‘I was just joking.”
One common tactic of sexual predation is the perpetrator’s casual dismissal of the victims’ claims by waving a hand in the air and claiming to be kidding. Not only is it hard to combat — who defines humor? — the dismissal also paints the victim as a prude. No one wants to be either a victim or a prude. Consequently, “Can’t you take a joke?” turns out to be a predator’s pretty effective line of defense. Apparently calling sexual harassment “satire” not only gets you a free pass, it sometimes gets you famous.
Take Sacha Baron Cohen. He rose to stardom through the British television series Da Ali G Show, which aired on HBO from 2000 to 2004. In it, Cohen posed as three equally ridiculous characters: the gay Austrian fashion commentator Brüno Gehard, the Kazakh reporter Borat Sagdiyev, and the ever-posing hip-hop personality Ali G. Cohen frequently pretends he doesn’t speak English proficiently, because Americans tend to want to help people who don’t communicate well in the language. He puts unassuming celebrities into awkward situations by making outrageous comments and broadcasting the ensuing “hilarity.”
He’s at it again. Showtime’s 'This Is America' is a seven-part series that explores “the diverse individuals, from the infamous to the unknown, across the political and cultural spectrum, who populate our unique nation.” Though the series debuted only this past Sunday, pundits are already aflutter over the people he reportedly duped in upcoming shows. He got former vice president Dick Cheney to autograph a “waterboard kit.” Then he posed as a disabled veteran (fake wheelchair and all) to score an interview with Sarah Palin, whom he asked perverse questions about Chelsea Clinton.
But should Cohen have a platform at all? Is his shtick “entertainment,” or can we finally admit it’s something else?
I’ll put it bluntly: It’s time for him to deal honestly with the filmed sexual harassment of Texas congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul during a 2008 interview. If you didn’t see this scene in his Bruno movie, I can assure you it was hard to watch. Cohen’s people requested a simple interview about Austrian economics. The GOP candidate arrived at the studio and exchanged pleasantries with the man he thought was his Austrian host. (Cohen is British.) Then a few seconds into the conversation, a light goes out. Cohen suggests that Paul go into another room to wait.
It turns out to be a hotel room. There are no chairs, so Paul sits on the bed. The lighting is low. Cohen offers Paul champagne, which he politely declines. Strawberries and caviar are set on a table. He takes off his jacket and compliments Paul’s “cute” appearance.
The 73-year-old congressman, who had been politely making small talk, starts to get uncomfortable. He gets quiet and perturbed when Cohen turns out a lamp, puts on sexual music, and begins to dance suggestively. Paul physically walks away from him. A secret camera catches him looking around, but there’s nowhere to go. Cohen has blocked the door, gyrating to the music. Paul picks up a newspaper and pretends to read it. Finally, Cohen unbuckles his belt and drops his pants.
When Paul looks up and sees Cohen in form-fitting violet satin underwear, he drops the paper and storms to the door. Bruno blocks his exit. “Get outta here,” an agitated Paul yells, waving him off. Secret cameras in the hallway catch the obviously upset Paul trying to explain to his aides what happened. Since Paul didn’t know that this was satire, his feelings of being fooled by a sexual predator were real.
Which is exactly why Showtime should not give Cohen this new platform.
Luring someone into a sexually uncomfortable situation is not acceptable — not for Matt Lauer, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, or Sacha Baron Cohen. The Me Too movement’s principles of consent are not suspended when someone thinks it’d be funny to use sexuality as a tool.
Here’s a quick tutorial, for cable execs who haven’t been paying attention to the news. You can’t make sexual moves toward a person who doesn’t want them. You can’t undress in front of them. You can’t make sexual allusions.
Satire doesn’t suspend consent. That Showtime is elevating Sacha Baron Cohen in spite of the success of the Me Too movement is a slap in the face to the men and women who’ve been in precisely the same situation as Ron Paul — tricked by people with evil intent into an uncomfortable, sexually charged situation.
Actual, true sexual predators use the “I’m just joking” excuse to cover unimaginable horrors. So does Cohen. His “humor” relies on the fact that his victims can’t tell the difference.
-- Nancy French is a three-time New York Times best-selling author and a longtime contributor to National Review Online
I think Cohen is absolutely beastly. This article is right on the money.
But it IS an excuse, if the joke is on the conservative.
Sasha Cohen is “innocent” because his victim in this case is a white male who isn’t a Democrat.
bookmark
Lefty Brit hoist on his own petard.
cohen is in serious need of a dirt nap.
IMHO of course...
>Nancy French
Hm, that last name looks familiar. I see nepotism alive and well at the old fake conservative print blogs these days.
What a piece of crap this “guy” is...
Sacha will be yucking it up right until the moment one of his victims clubs him like a baby Harp seal...
It’s a difficult situation, all this “just joking” bit, if one is trying to go through life as a decent person. Obviously, what you really want to do is tear his throat out with your teeth and get his eyes with your fingernails. But decent people don’t do that ... they just dream about it.
RE: Hm, that last name looks familiar. I see nepotism alive and well at the old fake conservative print blogs these days.
1) Do you disagree with the content of the article?
2) How are her writing skills?
Those are the only two issues for me.
While I generally agree it appears that this klown picks on right-wingers who (for whatever reason) are too Casper Milquetoast to defend themselves (think Dick Cheney).
I’m rooting for someone to give him a full-frontal readjustment.
Unless it’s VDH, I try not to click on that site anymore. I think his columns are syndicated anyway, so I can usually just read them elsewhere.
Sorry, I didn’t mean any offense to you, and I realize that maybe this is unfair to her. I suspect I’d probably agree with much of what she writes/wrote, but I have nothing but contempt for her husband, Jonah Goldberg, and their erstwhile colleague and wannabe Atlantic writer, Kevin Williamson who seek to kneecap the president at every opportunity while holding themselves out as conservative thought leaders.
My hope is that one day soon that magazine/blog/whatever goes the way of RedState, along with Kristol and the Weakly Standard. They’re about as useful to conservatism as Buzzfeed or Huffpo even if they make some valid arguments since they’re simultaneously shivving the guy who is actually trying to implement them.
I can't think of an example where he pulled his schtick on a liberal.
He did have run-ins with Ted Coppel and Bernie Sanders, but otherwise all of his targets have been Republicans or conservatives, some well known, others quite obscure.
You might well wonder how it is that this Englishman actually knows anything about the little-known Republican Congressmen that he pranks or punks.
I think he's more of a snob than anything else -- anybody who didn't go to Oxbridge and anything too American are targets for him -- but that he's hired somebody who's a lot more politically motivated than he is and picks out his targets for him.
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