Sacha Baron Cohen is certainly no stranger to controversy, and it looks like he’ll be able to expect plenty more with his next mockumentary film, if a report from The Daily Mail is to be believed.
According to the newspaper, Baron Cohen has paid disgraced football star and actor O.J. Simpson $20,000 to take part in a prank for his newest project. Baron Cohen reportedly met with Simpson in a hotel in Las Vegas, with a source claiming that: “OJ would not even get in the hotel room until he was paid a sackload of cash. There was no way Sacha could have got OJ into the room without paying money.”
Simpson, whose movie credits include the Naked Gun series, was acquitted of the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in a 1995 trial, but was subsequently found liable for the deaths in a civil case. He was recently released from prison after being granted parole for a 2007 armed robbery and kidnapping
As you’d expect, the families of the victims are outraged by the report, with Brown’s sister Tanya stating that: “Nicole and Ron are two human beings who were brutally murdered. This is not a joke nor is it entertainment. If Sacha makes this a comedic effort his victims will be personified as a joke. Shame on him.”
Baron Cohen declined to respond to the Mail’s requests for comments, although Simpson did admit to knowing the comedian, stating that: “I know him well. I met him. Nice Guy.”
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