Rebel Wilson slams ‘a**hole’ Sacha Baron Cohen amid memoir row: ‘I will not be bullied or silenced’
Rebel Wilson claims ‘asshole’ Sacha Baron Cohen is trying to block her memoir from being released. (Getty)
Pitch Perfect star Rebel Wilson has named Borat actor Sacha Baron Cohen as the celebrity reportedly trying to prevent the publication of sections of her upcoming memoir, Rebel Rising.
44-year-old Australian actress and comedian Wilson had previously claimed that an unnamed Hollywood star had “threatened” her after she planned to share “the truth” about him in her book.
In a since-deleted post, Wilson wrote that “the a**hole” in question had “hired a crisis PR manager and lawyers” and was “trying to stop press coming out about my book.”
“But the book WILL come out and you will all know the truth,” she added.
Wilson followed up the deleted claim in a post on Instagram Stories, in which she dramatically named the famous person as The Dictator actor Sasha Baron Cohen.
“I will not be bullied or silenced by high priced lawyers or PR crisis managers,” she wrote.
“The ‘a**hole; that I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is: Sacha Baron Cohen.”
Rebel Wilson starred alongside controversial comic Cohen in the 2016 spy comedy film Grimsby, in which she played the wife of Cohen’s character Nobby.
It’s not known if Wilson’s memoir deals with her experience with Cohen on the film’s set.
A representative for Sacha Baron Cohen told PinkNews in a statement: “While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage, and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby.”
Cohen has been at the centre of numerous media storms since his acting breakthrough as Ali G in the early 2000s, namely for racist, antisemitic and defamatory comments made by his satirical characters.
Earlier this month, queer actress Wilson shared a video on Instagram in which she explained why she now has a “no a**holes” policy when it comes to people she works with.
“I worked with a massive a**hole and yeah, now I definitely have a no a**holes policy. The chapter on said a**hole is chapter 23,” she said, while holding a copy of Rebel Rising.
“That guy was a massive a**hole,” she added.
Rebel Rising is published on 2 April.
