Showtime’s new anti-Republican “hit-job” series starring Sacha Baron Cohen has officially taken its first GOP scalp: Republican Georgia state lawmaker Jason Spencer, the schlub who actually fell for Cohen’s ridiculous demand to pull down his pants and scream the N-word on video.
In the segment of “Who Is America?” that aired Sunday, Cohen, dressed as his obviously fake ex-Israeli military character, trains Spencer on how to handle terrorists. One important tactic, Cohen says, is to draw attention to yourself, for example by screaming the N-word. Spencer complies. Another tactic, the host says, is to show your butt because radical Muslims are supposedly repulsed by the buttocks. Incredibly, Spencer pulls down his pants and charges at Cohen backwards. Cohen also manages to get the soon-to-be-former lawmaker to take an “up-skirt photo” of a “potential terrorist” wearing a burqa while mocking Chinese tourists.
Spencer reluctantly tendered his resignation on Tuesday night after Georgia Republican leaders demanded that he step down for publicly humiliating himself, and by extension the party.
Soon after the episode of “Who Is America?” aired, Georgia State House Speaker David Ralston called on Spencer to “resign immediately” for having “disgraced himself.”
Republican Gov. Nathan Deal agreed, tweeting, “The actions and language used by Jason Spencer are appalling and offensive. There is no excuse for this type of behavior, ever, and I am saddened and disgusted by it.”
Spencer announced his resignation Tuesday in a one-sentence letter to Ralston.
“This email/letter is to serve as an official resignation notice to your office that I will be resigning my post effective July 31, 2018,” wrote Spencer, as reported by NBC News.
One of the reasons Cohen targeted Spencer is that he has defended Confederate monuments and proposed a bill to ban covering one’s face in public, which Islamic groups called a violation of their civil rights.
Among Cohen’s other targets are Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin. He also lightly lampooned Bernie Sanders.
Related: Sarah Palin: Sacha Baron Cohen Used ‘Sick’ Trick To Get Me To Do Interview