Judge allows Roy Moore lawsuit over Sacha Baron Cohen prank to proceed

A federal judge in New York has denied a motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed against actor Sacha Baron Cohen by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter, an Obama appointee, denied the motion in an order filed Monday in the 2018 lawsuit against Cohen, Showtime and CBS filed by Moore and his wife, Kayla, according to multiple reports. 

The lawsuit stems from a 2018 episode of Cohen’s show “Who is America?” Moore claims that he was defamed and tricked into appearing on the show, during which Cohen, posing as an Israeli anti-terrorism expert, labeled the former U.S. Senate candidate as a pedophile while using a device “supposedly invented by the Israeli Army.”

Moore is seeking $95 million in damages for the alleged defamation.

Moore lost the Alabama Senate special election in 2017 after several women publicly accused Moore of making sexual advances when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. At least one woman has also alleged that Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 16.

He has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Following the Monday decision, Moore announced that he plans to take depositions and gather evidence from Cohen, Showtime and CBS, AL.com reported.

“We are gratified that the court is allowing the Moores’ case to go forward and we look forward to putting Cohen and the other defendants under oath,” Moore’s attorney of record in the case, Larry Klayman, said in a statement, according to multiple reports.

The case was transferred last year to a federal court in New York by Washington, D.C. District Judge Thomas Hogan.