the times | Monday June 29 2020 1GM 3
News
To the small but passionate crowd at a
far-right rally in Olympia, Washington
state, the hillbilly in denim dungarees
and a straw hat seemed unremarkable
at first as he sang tunes from a stage
bedecked with the US flag.
Accompanied by a bluegrass ensem-
ble on banjo, bass, fiddle and guitar —
and surrounded by patriotic bunting
and some hay bales — the bearded per-
former with the jolly demeanour soon
had festivalgoers joining in with his
hate-filled and racist singalong, all set
to a catchy tune.
“Liberals. What we gonna do? Inject
them with the Wuhan flu,” he growled,
rocking rhythmically in his lumberjack
boots to keep pace as members of the
audience repeated the line after him.
Targets of subsequent verses includ-
ed Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton,
Chinese people, the World Health Or-
ganisation and Dr Anthony Fauci,
America’s top infectious diseases spe-
cialist who has countered President
Trump’s laissez-faire attitude to the
coronavirus pandemic.
“Mask-wearers. What we gonna do?
Chop ’em up like the Saudis do,” he war-
bled, in a reference to the slaughtering
of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident who
was murdered in a Saudi consulate in
about 500 people sang along as Baron
Cohen worked his way through his abu-
sive repertoire, repeating the lyrics
after him as he held the microphone to-
wards them and held his hand to his ear.
Baron Cohen, 48, is known for his sa-
tirical but brazenly offensive characters
including a faux Kazakh journalist
named Borat Sagdiyev, and Ali G, a
crude parody of black hip-hop culture,
and his use of them to expose other
people’s bigotry. The grandson of a
Holocaust survivor, while playing
Borat he once convinced patrons at a
bar in Arizona to sing along to a song
entitled Throw the Jew Down the Well.
“Did it reveal that they were antise-
mitic? Perhaps. But maybe it just
revealed that they were indifferent toantisemitism,” he explained after-
wards.
It is believed that Saturday’s stunt
will form part of a future TV series.
In 2018, posing as a fake anti-terro-
rism expert, he tricked Roy Moore, an
Alabama congressman controversial
for racist and sexist viewpoints, into
appearing on his show under the pre-
tence of winning an award for his pro-
Israeli philosophies — but then lam-
pooned him as a paedophile. Mr Moore
attempted to sue for $95 million.
On Saturday he also played on the
crowd’s apparent scorn for masks.
“USA is the best, we don’t need no Cov-
id test, you’re not gonna take away our
rights. I don’t care about your race, take
that mask off from over your face.”The Rolling Stones can’t get no
satisfaction despite repeated demands
for President Trump to stop using their
music at his political rallies.
After previous warnings were
ignored, their lawyers have threatened
him with legal action if he continues to
address supporters with Stones hits
blaring in the background.
Broadcasting Music Incorporated
(BMI), a music rights organisation act-
ing on behalf of the band, has notified
the Trump campaign that any future
use will breach licensing agreements.
The Rolling Stones have sent cease
and desist directives to the US presi-
The legal battles
6 Roy Moore, the failed US Senate
candidate, tried to sue Sacha Baron
Cohen after a segment in the series
Who is America? in which the
comedian unveiled a fake
paedophile detector that beeped
when held near Moore. The
Republican has denied allegations
of pursuing sexual relationships
with teenage girls.6 A gun store owner in California
said he recognised Baron Cohen
when he came in with a camera
crew playing a Hungarian
immigrant. The owner said: “We
basically told them to get the f***
out, you guys are all full of s***.
Have a great day, get out.”6 Residents of the village of Glod in
Romania tried to sue the comedian
after he used it as the location for
the home of Borat, a virulently
antisemitic Kazakhstani, and
portrayed it as a place of rapists,
abortionists and prostitutes.6 Two students in South Carolina,
whom Baron Cohen had filmed
making racist remarks alongside
Borat, claimed they had been duped
when drunk into signing release
forms. The case was dismissed.6 Baron Cohen was sued by a
charity worker at a bingo hall after
commandeering a round as Bruno,
the flamboyantly gay Austrian
fashionista. The woman claimed he
had pushed her over and left her in
a wheelchair, but she later retracted
the statement.6 The government of Kazakhstan
threatened legal action against
Baron Cohen over his Borat film and
took down a website he had created
with the country’s domain code.6 In 2012 Baron Cohen settled a
defamation claim with a Palestinian
grocer who said the comedian had
falsely described him as a terrorist
in the film Bruno.ACTION PRESS/REX/SHUTTERSTOCKMick Jagger has previously
criticised the US presidentRolling Stones threaten to sue Trump for using their songs
dent after he used their track You Can’t
Always Get What You Want during his
2016 campaign. “The Rolling Stones do
not endorse Donald Trump,” the band
tweeted at the time. But last week he
used the track again at a rally in Tulsa,
Oklahoma.
It prompted the British group, front-
ed by Sir Mick Jagger, 76, who has criti-
cised Trump in the past, to take further
steps. In a statement released on Dead-
line, an entertainment website, BMI
said: “The Trump campaign has a Polit-
ical Entities License which authorises
the public performance of more than 15
million musical works in BMI’s reper-
toire wherever campaign events occur.
“There is a provision, however, thatallows BMI to exclude musical works
from the license if a songwriter or pub-
lisher objects to its use by a campaign.
“BMI has received such an objection
and sent a letter notifying the Trump
campaign that the Rolling Stones’
works have been removed from the
campaign license, and advising the
campaign that any future use of these
musical compositions will be in breach
of its license agreement with BMI.”
The Rolling Stones join a number of
prominent artists who have demanded
their material is not used during Mr
Trump’s events. Adele, Prince, Rihan-
na, Pharrell Williams, Aerosmith and
Neil Young are among the performers.
This month, the family of Tom Petty,the late rock musician, issued a cease
and desist notice over the use of his
song I Won’t Back Down, saying
they did not want it to promote a
“campaign of hate”.
“Trump was in no way
authorised to use this song
to further a campaign that
leaves too many Ameri-
cans and common sense
behind,’’ the
statement said.
“Both the late
Tom Petty and
his family firmly standagainst racism and discrimination of
any kind. Tom Petty would never
want a song of his to be used in a
campaign of hate.” The Petty
family declared support for Amer-
ica and democracy, but said: “Do-
nald Trump is not representing
the noble ideals of either.”
Adele complained in 2016
when her songs Rolling In The
Deep and Skyfall were used at
Trump rallies without permis-
sion. Neil Young formally
warned Trump against using
his tracks in 2018 after hear-
ing his 1990 single, Rockin’ in
the Free World, played
against his wishes.Charlie Parker
Comedian takes
aim at pro-gun
rally with spoof
racist singalong
Jacqui Goddard Istanbul in 2018. There were whoops
and hollers from the audience. “I ain’t
lyin’, it ain’t no joke, corona is a liberal
hoax,” he continued.
Yet there came a point that the rabid
lyrics struck a sour note even with the
rally’s far-right militia organisers,
who had accepted the
performer’s services
unaware of his true
identity as Sacha
Baron Cohen, a
British actor given
to pranks on
America’s racist
underbelly.
As they stormed
the stage in an at-
tempt to silence
him, the security de-
tail posted around
Baron Cohen moved in
to fend them off. The
security squad, it transpired,
had been paid for by a mysterious
benefactor who stepped in at the last
minute to sponsor the event.
Baron Cohen and his entourage later
fled in a private ambulance. The orga-
nisers, a pro-gun, pro-Trump group
known as the Washington Three Per-
centers (WA3%), said that they were
“appalled” by the stunt, which they
complained made them “look bad”.
“This display of
disgusting antics
was neither con-
doned nor accept-
ed by WA3%, and
we disavow any affil-
iation with this lamen-
table individual,” the
group said.
“Our ranks enjoy the mem-
bership of every race, religion, and
creed, and such despicable behaviour
is NEVER allowed within our group,
and if it ever arises, it causes the im-
mediate dismissal of the perpetrator... that display of bad taste and behav-
iour represents the antithesis of what
WA3% is and ever will be.”
Yet some members of the audience of
ted the
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group said.
“Our ranks e
b hi fSacha Baron Cohen,
who has mocked
American racism
while playing Borat,
below, performed in
front of the US flag