Sacha Baron Cohen has responded to Rebel Wilson's claims that he treated her poorly while they worked together on his 2016 movie The Brothers Grimsby.
Though this isn't the first time the Pitch Perfect actress has called out the actor over his supposed on-set behavior, while promoting her upcoming memoir Rebel Rising, out in April, she promised to name someone she worked with she described as an [expletive], later revealing she was referring to the Borat actor.
The comedian has since refuted his former co-star's claims; in a statement to CNN, his spokesperson maintained: "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."
What happened between Rebel and Sacha?
The issue first came up on March 15, when Rebel shared a video to her Instagram promoting her memoir. Recalling when she first moved to Hollywood in pursuit of an acting career, she said: "People were like, 'Yeah I have a no [expletive] policy, means like, I don't work with [expletive].'"
Noting the former colleague would be featured in chapter 23 of her book, she then invited fans to pre-order her memoir, in which she would name the person she was talking about.
What else did Rebel say?
Though Rebel's Hollywood blind item didn't initially raise many eyebrows, she certainly did when on March 24, she anticipated her own book, taking to Instagram Stories to name the actor in question, claiming it's Sacha.
In an Instagram Story on Monday, she wrote: "I will not be bullied or silenced by high priced lawyers or PR crisis managers," and ultimately claimed: "The [expletive] that I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is: Sacha Baron Cohen."
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Per Variety, a previous Story that has since expired or been deleted also read: "Now the [expletive] is trying to threaten me. He's hired a crisis PR manager and lawyers. He's trying to stop press coming out about my new book. But the book WILL come out and you will all know the truth."
What supposedly prompted the allegations?
Rebel previously spoke about working with Sacha in 2014, two years before Grimsby premiered, during an appearance on Australian radio show Kyle and Jackie O. Describing his comedic approach as "outrageous" at the time, she claimed they went back and forth with some decisions concerning nude scenes, and recalled declining an alleged request that was "not in the script."
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