Roy Moore has said he was falsely portrayed as a pedophile by comedian Baron Cohen on Who Is America?. A lower court judge had said the interview was “pure comedy and no reasonable viewer would conclude otherwise”. And on Thursday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision, ruling by a 3-0 margin that the interview was constitutionally protected speech. Mr Moore had signed a formal consent agreement before his interview with Baron Cohen and the court said this waived his right to pursue the $95m (£79m) suit. But Mr. Moore’s lawyer, Larry Kleiman, said the agreement was unclear because it had deleted a provision waiving claims about alleged sexual conduct and interrogation. Mr. Klayman said the court’s decision was a “travesty” and Moore and his wife Kayla – who had related claims dismissed by the court – will ask the entire 2nd Circuit to review the case. Lawyers for 50-year-old Baron Cohen have not commented on the decision. “False and Fraudulent” Mr. Moore’s interview with Baron Cohen took place in Washington, where Mr. Moore was waiting to receive an award for his support of Israel. According to the complaint, Baron Cohen, masquerading as a fictitious Israeli counter-terrorism expert, had “falsely and fraudulently introduced a bogus and fraudulent ‘device’ purportedly invented by the Israeli military to detect pedophiles.” “During the segment, Baron Cohen’s ‘device’ – as part of their false and fraudulent routine – actually identifies Judge Moore as a sex offender and pedophile, defaming him. Mr Moore had walked away from Baron Cohen after the ‘device’ beeped. “Humor is an important means of legitimate expression” The former Republican Alabama Supreme Court justice lost his 2017 U.S. Senate race amid sexual misconduct allegations. Those charges – which he denies – relate to alleged behavior towards teenage girls when he was in his 30s. The appeals panel said that while Baron Cohen’s show referred to these claims, no reasonable person would believe that the “obviously farcical pedophile detection device” actually worked. They said: “Humor is an important means of legitimate expression and central to the well-being of individuals, society and their government.”
