Update, 7/25: Georgia House Speaker David Ralston announced late Tuesday that Jason Spencer will resign as state representative amid mounting anger over his conduct on “Who Is America?” Spencer had initially refused to step down.
It was only the second episode of Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Who Is America,” but Jason Spencer, a state representative from Georgia, may have already succeeded in delivering the most mortifying appearance in the controversial new show.
That dubious achievement came on Sunday, when Spencer was featured participating in what he believed to be a training video for Israeli anti-terrorism expert Erran Morad who, unbeknownst to Spencer, is a fictional character played by Cohen. Cohen debuted the character in the show’s premiere last week. In that episode, Morad convinces Republican lawmakers to embrace the idea of arming young children to combat school shootings.
The resulting segment featured Spencer delivering a series of incendiary and offensive moments, including one in which he dropped his pants and made homophobic remarks as a tactic to convince a potential terrorist to release his weapon. “Touch it! I’ll make you a homosexual,” Spencer says, chasing Morad with his naked buttocks exposed. “Drop that gun right now!”
This is elected GOP lawmaker Jason Spencer participating in what he thought was an anti-terrorism training video with @SachaBaronCohen on tonight's #WhoIsAmerica https://t.co/HaVJ3HDFIF pic.twitter.com/1VX4xeueu7
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) July 23, 2018
In another clip, Spencer repeatedly screams the N-word as a way to demonstrate the best approach to escape from an attempted ISIS kidnapping.
Rep. Jason Spencer should probably lose his job, but we know that won’t happen because 2018 #WhoIsAmerica
— laney (@misslaneym) July 23, 2018
The Republican lawmaker is also filmed conducting a racist impersonation of a Chinese person.
Earlier in the show, Spencer “pretended to be Chinese” so he could take an upskirt photo of a Muslim woman to see if it was actually a male terrorist. pic.twitter.com/ie3LAILb58
— Isaac Saul (@Ike_Saul) July 23, 2018
Spencer has since released a statement alleging Cohen “took advantage” of his fears. “They exploited my state of mind for profit and notoriety,” he complained. “This media company’s deceptive and fraudulent behavior is exactly why Donald Trump was elected.”
