I did a post two weeks back saying that "Bruno" contains a glimpse of a refugee camp in Lebanon. I was wrong. For his meeting with a former "terrorist," The Guardian reports, Sacha Baron Cohen just went to the West Bank and interviewed a Fateh guy who works for an NGO, and then misrepresented him severely.
"How could he say this about me?" asks [Ayman] Abu Aita. "He lied from the beginning and he is still lying now."
Abu Aita, 44, from Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem, is described in the film Brüno as a member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the armed wing of the Fatah movement. Now Abu Aita plans to sue for defamation, while Baron Cohen has reportedly received threats from the brigade.
…Promoting the film recently on the David Letterman talkshow in the US, Baron Cohen explained that finding a "terrorist" to interview for the movie took several months and some help from a CIA contact. He described the secular Martyrs Brigades, most of whom signed an amnesty deal with Israel in 2007, as "the number one suicide bombers out there".
Abu Aita said: "My file is clear with the Americans. I was in the states twice and I travel all the time."
What a jerk. Cohen is playing into disfiguring stereotypes that are damaging the western mind. Here’s more –
