Sacha Baron Cohen has responded to some pretty strong allegations made by former co-star Rebel Wilson.
Overnight, the Australian comedy star took to Instagram to name Cohen as the "a**hole" she writes about in her upcoming memoir, Rebel Rising.
Her new book promises to share the 44-year-old's "unconventional journey" to finding success in Hollywood after growing up in Australia. It will also delve into many of Wilson's experiences working in the entertainment industry and those she has been fortunate - and unfortunate - enough to work with.
In fact, back on March 15, Wilson shared a video where she revealed she had worked with a "massive a**hole" and now adopts a "no a**holes policy".
Check out Rebel's video below:
The star then hinted that her fans could get more insight into the issue in chapter 23 of her book, adding: "That guy was a massive a**hole."
Although, Wilson did not name the actor in question at the time, she has since referred to an alleged incident between her and the anonymous star's lawyers over the weekend - which has prompted her to name the star as it was none other than comedy legend, Sacha Baron Cohen.
"I wrote about an a**hole in my book. Now, said a**hole is trying to threaten me," Wilson said in a now-deleted Instagram Story as per a report by Us Weekly. "He’s hired a crisis PR manager and lawyers. He is trying to stop press coming out about my book. But the book WILL come out, and you will all know the truth."
In another Instagram Story, she wrote: "I will not be bullied or silenced by high priced lawyers or PR crisis managers. The 'a**hole' that I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is: Sacha Baron Cohen."
However, despite the allegations, representatives for Cohen have shared his side of the story.
Per TMZ, the Borat star's reps have since said in a statement: "While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage, and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby."
Wilson and Baron Cohen worked together on the 2016 comedy Grimsby where the Pitch Perfect alum played the girlfriend of Baron Cohen's character Nobby, but even prior to the release of the movie, it seemed as though the pair had a brewing feud.
Back in 2014, when production for the movie had just begun, Australia’s Courier and Mail newspaper reported on comments Wilson made to the radio show Kyle and Jackie O about her time working alongside Baron Cohen.
"Sacha is so outrageous," Wilson said at the time. "Every single day he’s like, 'Rebel, can you just go naked in this scene?' And I’m like, 'No!' Sacha and I have the same agent in America and I’m like, 'Sacha, I’m going to call our agent Sharon and tell her how much you are harassing me.'"
"Every day he’s like, 'Just go naked, it will be funny." she continued. "Remember in Borat when I did that naked scene? It was hilarious.' On the last day I thought I’d obviously won the argument, and he got a body double to do the naked scene."
However, that allegedly did not stop the actor from trying to crank things up in notch in the name of being "funny."
"Then in the last scene... he was like, 'Rebel can you just stick your finger up my butt?’ And I went, 'What do you mean Sacha? That’s not in the script,'" she added. "And he's like, 'Look, I'll just pull down my pants, you just stick your finger up my butt, it’ll be a really funny bit.'"
In the end, the pair agreed on Wilson's character slapping Baron Cohen's character's butt.
Rebel Rising is set to be released on April 2 globally in hardcover, ebook, and audio format.
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