Sacha Baron Cohen sued for $95m

Roy Moore, the former U.S. Senate

candidate from Alabama, on Wednesday filed a $95 million

defamation lawsuit against Sacha Baron Cohen, claiming he was

duped into appearing on the British comedian's Showtime series

" Who Is America?" and falsely portrayed as a sex offender.

Moore, a Republican and former chief justice of Alabama's

Supreme Court, also sued Showtime and its parent CBS Corp

for defamation, and accused all three defendants of

fraud and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Baron Cohen's representatives did not immediately respond to

a request for comment. CBS and Showtime did not immediately

respond to requests for comment.

This image released by Showtime shows former Vice President Dick Cheney, left, and actor Sacha Baron Cohen, portraying retired Israeli Colonel Erran Morad in a still from "Who Is America?" Photo:AP

The lawsuit arose from a July 29 broadcast where Baron

Cohen, disguised as fictional Israeli anti-terrorism expert

Erran Morad, interviewed Moore and demonstrated a supposed

"pedophile detector" that beeped when waved near him.

Moore, 71, whose wife Kayla is also a plaintiff, said he had

been lured to Washington, D.C. on the pretense he would receive

an award for his support of Israel, and would not have met Baron

Cohen had he known what was planned.

After the beep, he told Baron Cohen: "I support Israel. I

don't support this kind of stuff," and walked out.

"This false and fraudulent portrayal and mocking of Judge

Moore as a sex offender ... has severely harmed Judge Moore's

reputation and caused him, Mrs. Moore, and his entire family

severe emotional distress, as well as caused and will cause

plaintiffs financial damage," the complaint said.

Running in heavily Republican Alabama, Moore lost his Senate

race last December to Democrat Doug Jones after being accused of

sexual misconduct toward female teenagers while in his 30s. He

has denied wrongdoing.

The lawsuit was filed in the Washington, D.C. federal court.

Larry Klayman, a conservative lawyer representing Moore, in

a statement called his client "a man of great faith, morality

and intellect," and said the defendants will be held legally

accountable for Baron Cohen's conduct.

Baron Cohen, 46, is known for portraying characters like Ali

G, Bruno and Borat Sagdiyev whose interactions with people, who

do not realize they are serving as foils, often result in their

revealing more of themselves than they realize.

His sketches have gotten him in legal hot water before,

including when two former college fraternity students claimed

they were duped while drunk into appearing in his 2006 film

" Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious

Nation of Kazakhstan." That case was dismissed in 2007. 

Reuters