There is perhaps nothing I love more than a good prank on the alt-right. And there is perhaps no one who does it better than Sacha Baron Cohen.
The comedian – and master of disguise – infiltrated an alt-right militia event in Olympia, Washington at the weekend, to execute a truly glorious (but jaw-dropping) prank.
Donning overalls and a fake beard (and a really weird accent), The Dictator actor encouraged the crowd at the ‘March for our Rights 3’ rally to sing along with his song about injecting mask-wearers, Dr. Fauci, and Obama with the “Wuhan flu” or “chopping them up like the Saudi’s do”. And it worked.
According to the Daily Beast and event organisers, Cohen passed himself off as a leader of a PAC who wanted to sponsor the rally. He brought a large security team with him who, as he performed on-stage for over eight minutes, blocked organisers from getting him off-stage or cutting the power.
You honestly couldn’t make this up. Proceed with caution, there are some seriously offensive lyrics in there – but, what’s perhaps more astonishing is that it takes the crowd almost ten minutes to work out that it’s completely messed up.
After his performance, Cohen managed to escape in a “private ambulance” rented specifically for the prank.
According to an eagle-eyed Twitter user (and this photo) it’s believed that Cohen later returned to the event in another disguise to bask in the chaos he caused as an ‘interviewer’. I mean… incredible.
Yo he came back after they chased him out. He was actually filming this interview 😭 pic.twitter.com/6SgIIaenWH
— John McRae (@YourSoundBae) June 28, 2020
Holy shit 😂
Sacha Baron Cohen infiltrated the Washington 3% (local rightwing militia) event in Olympia a few minutes ago. A last-minute big donor paid to sponsor the event, and hire security… And then that security kept the organizers from getting on stage to stop Cohen. 😂 pic.twitter.com/mllLkKBcpZ
— Spek (@spekulation) June 27, 2020
Yep, that’s the same guy doing the interview, it’s believed Sacha was the one filming it.
Chef kisses all round for everyone. This is truly a masterpiece.
After the event, Yelm City Councilman James Blair wrote on Facebook that Cohen came on stage disguised as the lead singer of the last band “singing a bunch of racist, hateful, disgusting shit.”
Impressive word choice from a Councilman.
“After the crowd realized what he was saying, and turned on him, his security then rushed the stage and evacuated them to a waiting private ambulance that was contracted to be their escape transport,” Blair added.
Doesn’t change that, as the video shows, the crowd was more than willing to sing along with him for quite a while. Awkward…
The event was hosted by the Washington Three Percenters, a far-right militia group that has held gun rights rallied in the past – including one in the aftermath of 2018’s student-led March for Our Lives demonstration. There was an estimated 500 people in attendance.
May this (please) lead to another season of Cohen’s Showtime series Who Is America? I think we’ve shown that America is ready for another spoof of themselves, without even realising it.
Love your work Sacha. It’s very nice.
Image Sources: Twitter (@RexChapman, @YourSoundBae, @PopCultureRev)
