GOP lawmaker makes racist comments, drops his pants on ‘Who Is America?’
A Georgia state lawmaker has come under fire after bizarre footage of him shouting the N-word, mocking Chinese people and exposing his behind aired on comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s new Showtime TV series.
In the second episode of Cohen’s show, “Who Is America?” — which aired Sunday night — state Rep. Jason Spencer (R-Woodbine) can be seen conversing with prankster Cohen, who was in disguise, pretending to be an Israeli anti-terrorism expert named Col. Erran Morad.
“Because of who you are, you could be the victim of kidnapping by ISIS … you have two seconds to attract attention. How do you attract attention?” Cohen asks Spencer in the new episode.
“You start screaming, ‘Take your clothes off!’” Spencer says before he is seen on camera yelling: “N—er, n—er, n—er, n—er!”
“You crazy,” Cohen says to Spencer. “The N-word is loony. Not this word. This word is disgusting.”
At another point, Cohen tells Spencer that ISIS is “scared of being seen as homo[sexual]” and that he will teach him “how to use your buttocks to intimidate ISIS.”
Cohen then gets Spencer to drop his pants, exposing his bare buttocks.
“I’ll touch you! I’ll touch you with my buttocks! You better drop the gun or I’ll touch you … USA, motherf—er,” Spencer is heard shouting as he runs around with his pants around his ankles.
After the credits roll during the episode, Spencer is seen partaking in the filming of a “message to terrorists” video.
“All you damn sandn—–s over in the Middle East — we are tired of you coming to America and we are tired of you trying to threaten us,” Spencer says as he brandishes a knife. “We will cut off your d–k. You understand?”
“We will take your d–k and we will shove it in your mouth,” a visibly heated Spencer says. “Pull it off and put it in your mouth. How are you going to rape children and women without a d–k?”
After the damning episode aired, Georgia House Speaker David Ralston said in a statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Spencer “disgraced himself and should resign immediately.”
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal tweeted Monday: “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 apologized, but said he won’t resign for “this ridiculously ugly episode.”
“[T]here are calls for me to resign. I recently lost my primary election, so I will not be eligible to hold office next term,” Spencer said in a statement. “Therefore, I will finish the remaining five months at my post and vacate my seat.”
Spencer defended his outlandish actions on the TV segment by claiming he was particularly vulnerable when it comes to terrorist threats.
The lawmaker said he got death threats in 2017 for introducing a bill to ban burkas from being worn in public.
“Then, on June 14th, a gunman opened fire at members of Congress on a baseball field. I knew people on that field. Now, the fears I already had became more intensified as the reality of my family being targeted by a similar, deranged, would-be assassin became even more possible. I was in such a poor state of mind that my wife and I also undertook marriage counseling with a licensed therapist during this time,” he said.
The legislator claimed that Cohen knew of his vulnerability.
“Sacha Baron Cohen and his associates took advantage of my paralyzing fear that my family would be attacked. In posing as an Israeli Agent, he pretended to offer self-defense exercises. As uncomfortable as I was to participate, I agreed to, understanding that these ‘techniques’ were meant to help me and others fend off what I believed was an inevitable attack.”
He went on to say: “I deeply regret the language I used at his request as well as my participation in the ‘class’ in general. If I had not been so distracted by my fears, I never would have agreed to participate in the first place.”