A federal court on Tuesday threw out a $95 million lawsuit filed by Roy Moore, Alabama’s former chief justice, against actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.
U.S. District Judge John Cronan a Trump appointee, dismissed the case on Tuesday after agreeing with the defendants that because Moore had signed a waiver before the interview, and because of First Amendment protection, Moore’s claims and those of his wife Kayla were barred, Politico reports.
“The Court agrees that Judge Moore’s claims are barred by the unambiguous contractual language, which precludes the very causes of action he now brings,” Cronan wrote. “Although Kayla Moore was not a signatory to that contract, her claims are barred by the First Amendment. Accordingly, Defendants’ motion is granted in its entirety.”
The interview was part of a satirical segment that appeared on a 2018 episode of Cohen’s comedy series “Who is America?”
Moore and his wife brought the suit for defamation, emotional distress and fraud after the former judge was interview by Baron Cohen who was pretending to be an Israeli anti-terrorism expert presenting Moore with an award for his support of Israel.
During the interview, Baron Cohen said he had a device that can identify pedophiles. The device started beeping when it was placed close to Moore.
Moore ended the interview at that point saying “I support Israel. I don’t support this kind of stuff.”
Judge Cronan said in his ruling that “it is simply inconceivable that the Program’s audience would have found a segment with Judge Moore activating a supposed pedophile-detecting wand to be grounded in any factual basis. Given the satirical nature of that segment and the context in which it was presented, no reasonable viewer would have interpreted Cohen’s conduct during the interview as asserting factual statements concerning Judge Moore.”
The Moores have filed paperwork indicating they will appeal the ruling, according to Deadline.
Moore lost a special election for Alabama’s open Senate seat in 2017 after he was accused of sexual misconduct by women who said he had pursued romantic relationships with them while they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. Moore denied the accusations.
