A Texas GOP leader says he plans to sue comedic actor Sacha Baron Cohen after being “misled” into participating in a mockumentary.
El Paso Republican chair Michael Aboud claims he was misled into participating in the mockumentary, Ali G: Who Iz I?, which comes out on Oct. 23. The film features footage of the local politician participating in a fake military training exercise. The El Paso GOP chair appears in the film’s latest trailer.
Ali G is a satirical fictional character created and performed by the English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Da Ali G show became extremely popular in the early 2000s for its satire and ambush-interview style, in which the character asks celebrities extremely provocative and offensive questions. The new film marks the return of Cohen’s character after a 20-year hiatus.
Cohen has faced several lawsuits over the years from unknowing participants in his Ali G show and his Borat films, which use real-life people for intricate and provocative satirical jokes.
According to the El Paso Times, Aboud claims that in the summer of 2025, a production company sent him an email requesting that he attend a meeting about immigration and its effects on communities.
“The emails seemed official,” Aboud said in a phone interview to El Paso Times. “It was a small documentary and about the border.”
Aboud said he flew to California thinking there would be a serious discussion, but was met with a man making ridiculous statements and forcing participants into a training exercise. The man in question was Sacha Baron Cohen, playing a satirical intelligence officer.
Aboud claims that after realizing the meeting was not what it was made out to be, he began distancing himself from being on camera. However, he appears to play a significant role in the film.
According to the Guardian’s report, in the film, Cohen plays an ex-Mossad terrorist expert, Col. Erran Morad, who gathers a group of MAGA sympathizers and conservatives that includes Aboud, to instruct them in various self-defense techniques and protective actions like wearing plastic protective buttocks.
Cohen’s character then reportedly enlists Aboud and Joshua Loudermilk, a former pastor and aspiring actor, to assist in a quest to stop a (fictional) South American drug lord’s child from being born in the United States. The two, who participate willingly in the mission, abduct the fictional drug lord’s pregnant girlfriend and abandon her at a fake medical center where she gives birth to a prosthetic infant. The fake baby is put into a Ziploc bag by Cohen’s character. Aboud later drops the fake baby from a drone to prevent the “infant” from touching U.S. soil.
The film repeatedly states that neither Aboud nor Loudermilk are “in on it.”
According to The Guardian, Aboud had no idea that he was participating in anything other than what he was led to believe was a nonfiction film.
“[Cohen and his entire film crew … a bunch of liars [who] deceive people to benefit themselves,” Aboud said in a statement. “They claimed that this would be a documentary about the illegals crossing the border. Then they said they were adding in this self-defence guy from Israel.”
Aboud declined to comment to the Guardian after being asked whether he stood by his actions in the film.
Aboud told the El Paso Times that he refused to participate in any further filming, flying back home to El Paso. Now that the film is set to release, he is considering taking legal action.
“I’m seriously thinking about it because I never signed anything agreeing to do a movie. They did not get my permission for anything,” Aboud said.
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This article originally published at El Paso GOP chair plans to sue Sacha Baron Cohen over Ali G film.