Nearly three years after failed Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore sued Sacha Baron Cohen over a prank, a judge has thrown out his lawsuit.
Judge John P. Cronan on Tuesday dismissed Moore's $95 million defamation lawsuit against Cohen, which stemmed from a segment on the comedian's Showtime series Who Is America?, Deadline reports.
Cohen is known for duping real people who don't realize he's playing a character, and he interviewed Moore as one of his characters on Who Is America? in 2018. In the segment, Cohen uses an electronic device he claims can detect pedophiles, and it makes beeping noises when waved over Moore, a reference to the allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Moore and his wife subsequently sued Cohen for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraud.
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But the judge ruled that an agreement Moore signed before his appearance barred his claims, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"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," the judge also said. "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."
