Georgia Leaders Condemn Jason Spencer, Lawmaker Who Used Slurs on Sacha Baron Cohen Show
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Jason Spencer, a Republican state representative in Georgia, found himself on the wrong end of a Sacha Baron Cohen prank that aired Sunday night on Showtime. It was the second episode of “Who Is America?” — Mr. Cohen’s latest foray into duping unsuspecting participants into saying embarrassing things.
But Mr. Spencer’s segment was one of the most humiliating yet to air on the show.
Mr. Cohen was playing a character named Erran Morad, an Israeli antiterrorism expert who, in the first episode, fooled several current and former lawmakers and gun-rights advocates into expressing support for arming young children. In Sunday night’s episode, the Morad character persuaded Mr. Spencer to take part in what he believed was antiterrorism training.
For Mr. Spencer, it went downhill from there. In a series of wince-inducing scenes, Mr. Cohen got him to yell a racial epithet and drop his pants on camera by telling him that those tactics would scare terrorists away.
At the end of the episode, Mr. Spencer used another slur in referring to people from the Middle East. By Monday morning, he came under intense criticism from leading Republicans in Georgia.
Mr. Spencer isn’t quite as prominent as the other lawmakers that Mr. Cohen has fooled, including Representative Dana Rohrabacher, Republican of California, and Senator Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent. But you might have heard his name before.
Mr. Spencer, a 43-year-old physician assistant,was elected to the Georgia House in 2010 from Woodbine, near the southeastern tip of Georgia. This is his fourth term, and his last, for now at least. In May, he lost his primary election to a political newcomer, Steven Sainz.
He had a reputation of being combative and a knack for attracting negative attention, which may have been what brought him to the attention of Mr. Cohen.
In 2016, shortly after President Trump won the election, Mr. Spencer filed and then withdrew — following an outcry — a bill that critics said would have effectively banned Muslims from wearing veils in public.
Last summer, Mr. Spencer got into a Facebook exchange with a former Georgia lawmaker, an African-American attorney named LaDawn Jones, who supported the removal of Confederate statues. In a comment that had threatening racial overtones, Mr. Spencer told Ms. Jones: “Looks like you are afflicted with the same poison you claim to fight against. I can guarantee you won’t be met with torches but something a lot more definitive. People in South Georgia are people of action, not drama.” He added that people who want the statues removed “will go missing in the Okefenokee,” referring to a swamp in Georgia.
Mr. Spencer also sparred with the Catholic Churchthis year, referring to it as a “pro-child predator special interest group” and the “child sexual predator lobby.” This was in the midst of a heated debate over Georgia’s Hidden Predator Act, which Mr. Spencer wanted to toughen by giving victims of child sexual abuse more power to sue perpetrators and institutions that harbor them.
The legislation passed unanimously in the House, but in the Senate, the language was whittled down and the legislative session ended without the bill passing.
In a statement last week, Mr. Spencer said that he had received death threats after proposing the bill that would have banned facial coverings, and that Mr. Cohen had “took advantage of my fears that I would be attacked by someone inspired by the vile rhetoric used against me.”
He called the stunt “deceptive and fraudulent behavior” and “exactly why President Donald Trump was elected.”
Mr. Spencer also threatened legal action. Showtime did not respond to a request for comment on his statement.
On Monday, the speaker of the Georgia House of Representatives demanded Mr. Spencer’s resignation for behavior he called “reprehensible.”
“Representative Spencer has disgraced himself and should resign immediately,” the speaker, David Ralston, said in a statement. “Georgia is better than this.”
Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, said Monday that “the actions and language used by Jason Spencer are appalling and offensive.” The governor, in his post on Twitter, added, “There is no excuse for this type of behavior, ever, and I am saddened and disgusted by it.”
And the campaign of Brian Kemp, a Republican candidate for governor who had drawn Mr. Spencer’s support, said it had erased the lawmaker’s name from its roster of endorsements.
“Rep. Spencer’s words and behavior are hurtful, insensitive and completely unacceptable,” Mr. Kemp said in a statement. “At the very least, he should issue a public apology for this shameful incident.”
Tags
Who is online
112 visitors
In a series of wince-inducing scenes, Mr. Spencer yelled a racial epithet and dropped his pants on camera . Credit Showtime
Is it too much to ask that we don't elect morons to public office?
well this exposure is just him being the way he is when cameras are not around. And it is no surprise people keep acting like this is not the same guy who they voted for. once again the camera catches the truth with out this person being under any duress what so ever.