Former Rep. Joe Walsh Opens Up About How Sacha Baron Cohen Tricked Him Into Speaking About Arming Kindergartens in 'Who Is America?'
Joe Walsh, a former congressman from Illinois, opened up about being tricked by Sacha Baron Cohen to participate in his new political satire series on Showtime called "Who Is America?"
Speaking with CNN on Saturday, Walsh slammed the comedian for successfully making people blurt out stupid things. "He gets people to say stupid things because he lies to them," he stated.
Walsh's involvement in Cohen's new show was part of the premiere episode, where Baron Cohen's character, a former soldier from Iran named Col. Erran Morad, talked to US politicians to discuss the fake Israeli policy where young children will be thought to use weapons in a program called Kinderguardians.
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Walsh explained that after Baron Cohen and his crew conducted an interview, he was asked to read from a teleprompter to talk about some of the new products that Israel invented. "Then they had me read about this 4-year-old child in Israel who, when a terrorist entered his classroom, somehow he grabbed the terrorist's gun and held the terrorist at bay. And that was an example of how Israel trains and arms preschool kids on how to use firearms, and boy shouldn't we do that in America?" he also said.
Walsh mentioned that he immediately realized that the idea that he read was a bit out of this world, but thought that they were talking about Israel, a country known for its strong defense.
But after the backlash that he received on Twitter, the former congressman said that he never believed that kids should be trained to use firearms. He also urged his followers to use the hashtag #BoycottShowtime on social media.
Walsh was not the only politician who cried foul after being duped by Baron Cohen to read something for the satirical show. The list includes former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who told Daily Mail that she was disgusted at how the comedian mocked politicians for the sake of the show.
