Sacha Baron Cohen and Rebel Wilson drama explored

Actors Sacha Baron Cohen and Rebel Wilson are embroiled in a controversy that has fans reacting wildly on social media. Wilson recently accused Cohen of being an "a**hole" and behaving inappropriately with her on the set of their 2016 film, The Brothers Grimsby. Following this accusation, Cohen denied the claims via his representative on March 25.

Although this is not the first time Wilson has spoken about the incident, the news made headlines this time due to the upcoming release of her memoir, Rebel Rising. The Pitch Perfect actress, in a promotional tease for her book, alluded to an "a**hole" that she worked with, which led to speculations about the identity of the person. This kicked off the whole drama between Wilson and the person, who was later revealed to be Sacha Baron Cohen.

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The entire Sacha Baron Cohen and Rebel Wilson drama explained

On March 15, Rebel Wilson took to Instagram to promote her upcoming memoir Rebel Rising. In the caption of the video clip, she wrote:

"Do you wanna know why I have a “no a**holes” policy now with people I work with? …Well it’s all in the book... oh and YES I name the a**hole!"

In the video, Wilson says:

"When I first came to Hollywood, people were like, yeah, ‘I have a no a**hole policy, means like, yeah, I don’t work with a**holes.’ I was like, ‘Oh yeah. I mean, that sounds sensible or logical. But then it really sunk in because I worked with a massive a**hole and yeah, now I definitely have a no a**holes policy."

Fans were eager to read the book and learn the identity of the person Wilson was referring to. However, in an Instagram story uploaded on March 22, the actress claimed to have been threatened by the person.

"Now the a**hole is trying to threaten me. He’s hired a crisis PR manager and lawyers. He’s trying to stop press coming out about my new book. But the book WILL come out and you will all know the truth," Wilson wrote.

Rebel Wilson via her Instagram story (@rebelwilson)

Fans no longer had to wait for the release of the book to learn about the identity of the "a**hole." Rebel Wilson posted another Instagram story on March 25 announcing the actor's name to the world.

"I will not be bullied or silenced with high priced lawyer or PR crisis managers. The ‘a**hole’ that I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is Sacha Baron Cohen," Wilson wrote.

Rebel Wilson via her Instagram story (@rebelwilson)

But this was not the first time Rebel Wilson had publicly spoken about Baron's alleged misbehaviour against her. A fan on X shared screenshots of Wilson's old tweets from 2017 where she talks about the incident without naming Baron:

"A male star, in a position of power asked me to go into a room with him and then asked me repeatedly to stick my finger up his a**. All whilst his male 'friends' tried to film the incident on their iPhones and laughed. I repeatedly said no and eventually got out of the room."

In a continuing tweet, she claimed that she was threatened by his representative "to be nice and support" the actor, but she refused and apparently warned other people about him.

However, in an even older interview with Kyle and Jackie O on Kiis FM in 2014, Wilson called out Sacha Baron Cohen and his alleged inappropriate antics. She claimed that he asked her to go naked on The Brothers Grimsby set several times, which she refused.

"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.’"

A body double was apparently used for the naked scene. Wilson continued:

"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.’"

Wilson turned down this request as well but conceded to slapping his butt. However, this story did not gain much traction and many people were unaware that Cohen had already been named when Wilson revealed his identity on Instagram.

Following Wilson's revelation, a representative for Sacha Baron Cohen made a statement denying the allegations. They said:

"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."

It is yet to be seen where the drama will head next. Meanwhile, Rebel Wilson's memoir Rebel Rising will be released on April 2, 2024.