Sacha Baron Cohen has responded to Rebel Wilson’s claims that he was ‘an a**hole’ who’d tried to stop her publishing her memoir.
Rebel Wilson made headlines earlier today for the claims, which she had made previously without identifying the ‘a***hole’ in question.
The Borat star and Wilson worked together on 2016 film, The Brothers Grimsby.
A spokesperson for Baron Cohen told The Hollywood Reporter: “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.”
The Pitch Perfect star claimed on her Instagram that she had a ‘no a**hole’ policy after one particular experience with a ‘massive a**hole’.
She said in an Instagram story posted on March 15: “When I first came to Hollywood, people were like, yeah, ‘I have a no a**hole policy, [it] means like, yeah, I don’t work with a**holes.’ I was like, ‘oh yeah. I mean, that sounds sensible or logical.
“But then it really sunk in [what they, the older people in the industry, meant] because 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. That guy was a massive a**hole.”
Wilson went on to claim that she was allegedly being ‘threatened’ by the person in question.
She said: “He’s hired a crisis PR manager and lawyers. He is trying to stop press coming out about my book. But the book WILL come out, and you will all know the truth.”
This past Sunday (March 24), she posted another story revealing the person’s identity as Sacha Baron Cohen.
At the time, Baron Cohen had not addressed the allegation himself or on his social media accounts.
However, this is not the first hint of an apparent fractious relationship between the two.
In 2014, Wilson spoke on the Australian radio show Kyle and Jackie O about her time working on the film, saying: “Sacha is so outrageous… Every single day he’s like, ‘Rebel, can you just go naked in this scene?’ And I’m like, ‘No!’
PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
“Sacha and I have the same agent in America and I’m like, ‘Sacha, I’m going to call our agent Sharon and tell her how much you are harassing me.”
Wilson went on to claim: “Every day he’s like, ‘Just go naked, it will be funny.
“On the last day I thought I’d obviously won the argument, and he got a body double to do the naked scene.
“Then in the last scene…he was like, ‘Rebel can you just stick your finger up my butt?’ And I went, ‘What do you mean Sacha? That’s not in the script.’
“And he’s like, ‘Look, I’ll just pull down my pants, you just stick your finger up my butt, it’ll be a really funny bit’.”
According to Wilson, she was able to reach a compromise with Baron Cohen, saying: “You don’t wanna be a diva so I … said I’ll slap you once on the butt and that’s it.”