Sacha Baron Cohen infuriates Arizona town after proposing to build 'the world's largest mosque outside the Middle East' with locals claiming 'Muslims' are 'terrorists' who 'bring problems'

  • In the latest episode of 'Who Is America?,' Cohen heads to Kingman, Arizona and invites local residents to discuss a multimillion-dollar investment project
  • The only problem is for Kingman locals is that the proposed project calls for 'the world's largest mosque outside the Middle East' to be built in their town 
  • As the mood quickly turns from disappointment to anger, one man chimes in by associating the word 'mosque' with 'terrorism' 
  • One woman declares that if a mosque is built in the community, 'we'll all be moving out of this state' to a round of applause 
  • Cohen, in full disguise, doesn't help things by noting that the mosque will be funded partly by the government of Saudi Arabia and The Clinton Foundation 
  • To say the least, officials from Kingman were not happy, slamming Cohen for taking advantage of their community and 'baiting' local residents 

It's hard to image, but comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is causing more controversy with his new show after tricking one Arizona town into believing investors want to build a mosque in their community.

In the latest episode of 'Who Is America?,' Cohen heads to Kingman, Arizona and invites local residents to discuss a new multimillion-dollar project that could provide 'huge economic growth' to their town, posing as a member of a development firm.

There's only one problem the people of Kingman have with the '$385 million investment: the proposed project calls for 'the world's largest mosque outside the Middle East' to be constructed in their small town. 

n the latest episode of 'Who Is America?,' Sacha Baron Cohen (pictured)  heads to Kingman, Arizona and invites local residents to discuss a multimillion-dollar investment project

n the latest episode of 'Who Is America?,' Sacha Baron Cohen (pictured)  heads to Kingman, Arizona and invites local residents to discuss a multimillion-dollar investment project

The only problem is for Kingman locals is that the proposed project calls for 'the world's largest mosque outside the Middle East' to be built in their town

The only problem is for Kingman locals is that the proposed project calls for 'the world's largest mosque outside the Middle East' to be built in their town

As the mood quickly turns from disappointment to anger, one man chimes in by associating the word 'mosque' with 'terrorism,' while another says the project will bring 'problems.'   

Those in the room quickly become more and more agitated as the segment goes on, especially after Cohen informs them that Kingman 'will become a hub for tourism for Muslims around the world.'

'We don't want that s**t here,' the man who associated Islam with terrorism chimes in angrily. 

'You bring in Muslims, we might have problems - we probably will have problems,' states another with the same fervor. 

One woman declares that if a mosque is built in the community, 'we'll all be moving out of this state' to a round of applause. 

As the mood quickly turns from disappointment to anger, one man chimes in by associating the word 'mosque' with 'terrorism'
The only problem is for Kingman locals is that the proposed project calls for 'the world's largest mosque outside the Middle East' to be built in their town

As the mood quickly turns from disappointment to anger, one man chimes in by associating the word 'mosque' with 'terrorism'

 Cohen, in full disguise, doesn't help things by noting that the mosque will be funded partly by the government of Saudi Arabia and The Clinton Foundation

 Cohen, in full disguise, doesn't help things by noting that the mosque will be funded partly by the government of Saudi Arabia and The Clinton Foundation

Cohen, in full disguise, doesn't help things by noting that the mosque will be funded partly by the government of Saudi Arabia and The Clinton Foundation. 

'That's even worse than the mosque,' a man in the back of the room adds.    

Things turn ugly when one Kingman residents, without hesitation, unequivocally states that he's 'racist against Muslim.'  

To say the least, officials from Kingman were not happy, slamming Cohen for taking advantage of their community and 'baiting' local residents.

The city defended itself by condemning the discriminatory statements a number of individuals made during the episode, but said that its unfair to characterize the whole community with the same broad brush.

Sacha Baron Cohen's third episode of 'Who is America?' is continuing to stir up controversy

To say the least, officials from Kingman were not happy, slamming Cohen for taking advantage of their community and 'baiting' local residents

'Every city has resident voices that challenge respect and dignity for others. They are wrong and unfortunate. That was no exception on Sunday's 'Who Is America?' show on Showtime in which an actor baited purported residents to vociferously oppose a fictitious, supersized mosque in our city,' the City of Kingman posted to Facebook. 

'No matter the instigation or that numerous ‘focus group’ participants don’t even live in Kingman,' the statement continued, 'the show’s characterization in the words of one member of our Kingman City Council ‘broke her heart.’ Why? Because our community has made great strides to erase previous perceptions.'

'We do have a mosque. We do have a robust Latino community. We do welcome tourists from all over the world, especially more and more from Asia fascinated by our Route 66 history. We do have African-Americans applying for leadership positions with the city. This is the Kingman of today, not of yesterday.'   

 The city defended itself by condemning the discriminatory statements a number of individuals made during the episode

 The city defended itself by condemning the discriminatory statements a number of individuals made during the episode

Full Statement from City of Kingman, Arizona 

City Of Kingman, Arizona Responds To Baiting & Big Mistakes By Sacha Baron Cohen’s Very Lowly Rated Who Is America?

“Every city has resident voices that challenge respect and dignity for others. They are wrong and unfortunate. That was no exception on Sunday’s ‘Who Is America?’ show on Showtime in which an actor baited purported residents to vociferously oppose a fictitious, supersized mosque in our city.

Another in the audience also stated negative feelings towards African-Americans. No matter the instigation or that numerous ‘focus group’ participants don’t even live in Kingman, the show’s characterization in the words of one member of our Kingman City Council ‘broke her heart.’ Why? Because our community has made great strides to erase previous perceptions. We do have a mosque. We do have a robust Latino community. We do welcome tourists from all over the world, especially more and more from Asia fascinated by our Route 66 history. We do have African-Americans applying for leadership positions with the city. This is the Kingman of today, not of yesterday.

It might be easy to laugh off what took place Sunday night on a show with very low ratings that tries to make everyone look bad. After all, New York City rejected a mosque not too many years ago and Scottsdale, Arizona once had a big debate over a Jewish Community Center.

But shrugging this off is not going to be us. We’re going to use this opportunity to keep moving our community forward with the help of many community stakeholders including the Kingman Interfaith Council. And while we’ve been making progress the comments in the show, fairly or unfairly, show that we still have more work to do.

So here are additional steps we are going to be taking as ours is a community like too many others in America that still encounter such issues. For the first time our City Manager will be bringing to the City Council a resolution in support of National Hispanic Heritage Month, beginning on September 15th, in honor of our significant Latino community.

We intend to invite Phoenix Pastor Warren Stewart to help us honor Martin Luther King Junior Day in January. Stewart admirably and courageously led the fight for the State of Arizona to honor the fallen civil rights leader. We also plan to work with our Interfaith Council to develop the community’s first Diversity Commission that will be charged with expanding what our city and community does for people of all types and persuasions that have contributed, and will contribute, to this great country.

This is the Kingman of today, and will be the one of tomorrow," -City of Kingman, Arizona.

 

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Sacha Baron Cohen infuriates Arizona town

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