Sacha Baron Cohen crashes far-right event disguised as bluegrass singer in Washington
Comedian, who is known for pulling elaborate pranks, was accused of hiring his own security to prevent the group’s members from stopping his performance
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Your support makes all the difference.Sacha Baron Cohen has been accused of infiltrating a rally in Washington organised by far-right group the Three Percenters, billed as “March for Our Rights 3”.
The comedian, who is known for pulling elaborate pranks, allegedly disguised himself as a bluegrass singer and sang a song with lyrics including: “Dr Fauci, what we gonna do? Inject him with the Wuhan flu… Hillary Clinton, what we gonna do? Lock her up like we used to do.”
In video footage of the event, the Three Percenters audience – known as avid Trump supporters – are heard cheering and clapping along for the lengthy performance.
Matt Marshall, a former founder of the Three Percenters in Washington, said in a video shared on Twitter that he believes Cohen funded the event under the moniker Back to Work USA, a company based in Orange County, California.
“They wanted to bring in some bands, have some music, give us a nice stage, set it up, amp it better,” Marshall said. “It felt a little weird but then [they] started paying for stuff like port-a-potties, stage rentals, [and] barriers.”
Marshall claimed that when Cohen began performing “an incredibly racist song”, members of the 3 Percenters attempted to pull him off stage. However, they were stopped by the security guards that Cohen had allegedly hired.
Washington State Patrol troopers told The Olympian that there were around 500 people attending the conservative rally at Heritage Park on Saturday 27 June.
Marshall blamed the incident on the Democratic party and Washington Governor Jay Inslee. “They spent a lot of money to make us look bad,” he alleged. “I bet you if you follow the strings this goes directly goes back to the Washington state Democratic party.”
Before video footage emerged of Cohen’s reported performance, Yelm City Council member James Connor Blair wrote on his Facebook page: “Sacha Baron Cohen pulled a… stunt at the March For Our Rights 3 event”.
A screenshot of his post was shared by prominent US gun control activist Sally Watts.
After the performance, Cohen reportedly came back disguised as a camera man.
The Independent has contacted Cohen’s representative for comment.
In his 2018 series Who is America, Cohen travelled around the US in various disguises while pranking Republicans.