To tell you how out of touch CBS journalists are, they eagerly promoted leftist actor Sacha Baron Cohen’s role as a violent communist agitator without the slightest hint of controversy. This is just weeks after a violent riot at the Capitol. Talk about tone deaf. On Friday’s program, the hosts gushed over the “brilliant” “revolutionary” Cohen, known for mocking conservatives with Borat.
Now, Cohen is starring as 1960s radical Abbie Hoffman. Hoffman, a “loudmouthed communist,” was found guilty of inciting a violent riot at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Yet, co-host Anthony Mason sanitized the radical as one of the “political activists who were put on trial for their anti-Vietnam war demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.” Offering his version of a compliment, he praised the actor: “In many ways he's very similar to you.”
How does this sound just three weeks after the Capitol riot? Did it not occur to Mason at all during the segment?
Cohen, equally tone deaf, loved the praise: “I mean, that's a great compliment. I would say he's really inspiring. I mean, he realized the power of humor in being able to challenge certain things that he found immoral in society.”
According to the City Journal, the real Hoffman called for an “a huge orgasm of destruction” at the '68 Democratic convention. So, in other words, CBS and lefty celebs like Cohen like violent, rioting thugs, just so long as they are the right kind of violent, rioting thugs. Here's a quote from Hoffman in 1975 on his beliefs: "I used to say I was an anarchist or maybe a hedonistic Communist, but around the world people understand the force that's fighting for them is Communism."
Mason shifted the interview to Cohen’s other role, mocking conservatives through prank movies. He cheered, “Baron Cohen has earned a reputation as revolutionary himself. Through the outrageous behavior of his own characters, he gets people to reveal their inner prejudices. Most notably as the infamous journalist from Kazakhstan, Borat.”
Cohen, very much a radical, wants even more censorship by Big Tech. Mason found no controversy there:
ANTHONY MASON: But in a 2019 speech to the Anti-Defamation League, he spoke out publicly for the first time against social media companies.
SACHA BARON COHEN: All this hate and violence is being facilitated by a handful of internet companies that amount to the greatest propaganda machine in history.
MASON: Baron Cohen thought he'd retired his iconic boat character but decided he had to bring him back ahead of the 2020 election in Borat Subsequent Movie Film, the Kazakh reporter crashes an actual conservative conference dressed in a fat suit and prosthetics as President Trump trying to get to Vice President Mike Pence. Putting the actor's own safety on the line for the sake of satire.
COHEN: This wasn't a prank movie. This was my form of peaceful protest.
Co-host Gayle King couldn’t get enough of the commie-loving, censor fan: “The beauty of what he does -- because I think he's brilliant in what he puts on the screen.” She touted his censorship goals: “He got a lot of attention when he spoke out about social media back in 2019 where people thought 'Let me take a look at this.' He made some really very powerful points.”
Apparently it never occurred to the CBS hosts that they make their living through free speech. Just like the irony of praising an actor for his role as a violent agitator, just weeks after a real-life riot, didn't strike them as odd.
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A transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CBS This Morning
1/22/2021
8:14 AM ET
ANTHONY MASON: British actor, writer, and producer Sacha Baron Cohen is in two of the most critically acclaimed movies of the past year. He surprised the world with the release of a Borat sequel before the election and had a starring role in Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago Seven. Both are considered Oscar contenders. In an exclusive interview with him, we spoke with Sacha Baron Cohen about why he was so driven to make both of these films.
[Clip from The Trial of the Chicago Seven]
MASON: Sacha Baron Cohen chased the role of Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago Seven for 13 years.
SACHA BARON COHEN: I just found him this incredibly funny, charismatic character who underneath it all was amazingly courageous and was ready to give his life to fight injustice. So I needed to play him.
MASON: Hoffman was one of the real-life Chicago seven. Political activists who were put on trial for their anti-Vietnam war demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. In many ways he's very similar to you.
MASON: I mean, that's a great compliment. I would say he's really inspiring. I mean, he realized the power of humor in being able to challenge certain things that he found immoral in society. He's always saying, "We need to go where the cameras are."
[Clip from The Trial of the Chicago Seven]
MASON: Baron Cohen has earned a reputation as revolutionary himself. Through the outrageous behavior of his own characters, he gets people to reveal their inner prejudices. Most notably as the infamous journalist from Kazakhstan, Borat.
[Clip from Borat.]
MASON: That performance won him a golden globe in 2007.
COHEN: Thank you to every American who has not sued me so far. Thank you.
MASON: As a kid growing up in northwest London, baron Cohen fell in love with comedy.
COHEN: Actually me and my brother, we used to improvise songs. There was an old South African 95-year-old pianist who used to come to my parents' house. She would say, you know, “One day you will be in Hollywood, they'll love you.” We're like, “Yes, yeah, that's right, granny. Sure we will.” It seemed so ludicrous.
MASON: Despite his success, the 49-year-old comedian has been reluctant to give interviews as himself.
COHEN: Probably some of that is insecurity. But a lot of that is I just didn't want to be recognized, I didn't see the upside of becoming famous as myself.
MASON: But in a 2019 speech to the Anti-Defamation League, he spoke out publicly for the first time against social media companies.
COHEN: All this hate and violence is being facilitated by a handful of internet companies that amount to the greatest propaganda machine in history.
MASON: Baron Cohen thought he'd retired his iconic boat character but decided he had to bring him back ahead of the 2020 election in Borat Subsequent Movie Film, the Kazakh reporter crashes an actual conservative conference dressed in a fat suit and prosthetics as President Trump trying to get to Vice President Mike Pence. Putting the actor's own safety on the line for the sake of satire.
COHEN: This wasn't a prank movie. This was my form of peaceful protest.
MASON: In those moments you risk arrest or sometimes something even more dangerous.
COHEN: So this was the first movie where I'd been advised to wear a bulletproof vest during a couple of scenes. One of them was at a gun rally in Washington state where I was singing a song for the Wuhan Flu.
MASON: In the end you got chased off the stage.
COHEN: Yes. A group of armed members of the crowd stormed the stage, overpowered the security. And one of them actually reached for his pistol. And I was extremely lucky that I had a fantastic bodyguard who grabbed the guy's arm and told him, whispered the phrase "It's not worth it, buddy."
MASON: Was there any point during it where you said to yourself, why am I doing this?
COHEN: Throughout the whole movie. I remember being in the bathroom before that gun rally, and I was putting on a bulletproof vest and looking at myself in the mirror just thinking “I must be completely mad. What are you doing?”
MASON: At one point, he spent five days in COVID lockdown with two conspiracy theorists. It's the longest he's ever had to remain in character.
COHEN: I think I had close to having a panic attack because there were no crew around. I thought, how do I do this? So how am I not going to slip up for, you know, having breakfast, lunch, dinner, getting drunk with them in the evenings.
MASON: It was worth it because those guys were just -- they were pivotal to the film.
COHEN: Jim and Jerry, which were their names, were good guys, you know. They were kind to a foreigner. They were actually to a degree feminists. But they believed in some reprehensible conspiracy theories, and it wasn't really their fault. They'd been fed a diet of these lies and conspiracy theories on social media and by various news channels. We're living in a dangerous age where the difference between fact and fiction is not evident anymore.
MASON: But Sacha Baron Cohen, who's married to Isla fisher, and now a father of three, says it's time to really put Borat behind him. Was this your last undercover movie? Or would you do it again?
COHEN: No. I can't do it again. I was lucky to make it out of this one fully intact. So no.
MASON: I actually asked him, I said, “Do you alert your wife when you're going into these dangerous situations?” And he said, “No, I don't, I did that once when he was making Bruno, and ended up being chased by the police that day. He said she's never gone -- he's never gone back to a shoot after that.
GAYLE KING: I’m sure she doesn’t want his wife to worry about him. The beauty of what he does -- because I think he's brilliant in what he puts on the screen -- is that on one level you are saying, “Wow, this is amazing.” And on the other you're cringing --
MASON: Squirming --
KING: And then the next minute you're doubled over in laughter.
MASON: Yeah. You're on a roller coaster the whole time.
KING: But he’s always making a point.
MASON: Yes.
KING: He got a lot of attention when he spoke out about social media back in 2019 where people thought “Let me take a look at this.” He made some really very powerful points.
MASON: He went after the Abbie Hoffman part way back in 2007. He called Steven Spielberg on the phone and said, "I want this part." He said, “It's got a distinct accent you don't have.” He said, “I'll give you two weeks to learn it.”
KING: And what happened?
MASON: It waited 13 years for them to make the film. He interrupted the filming of Borat to do The Chicago Seven.
TONY DOKOUPIL: His criticism of social media may be his more lasting legacy. It's not ended with that speech. On Election Day with Donald Trump leaving the oval office he had a picture of Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg and said “One down, one to go.” He really thinks that social media has become, as he put it, “a sewer of bigotry,” and they need to take responsibility for what's on their platform. We're beginning to see that. That could be his legacy.
