The three-judge panel of the 2nd United States Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on Thursday unanimously decided to dismiss Moore and his wife’s $95 million lawsuit against Cohen, Showtime and its owner, CBS, on a segment of the “Who Is America?” program, which aired on Showtime in 2018.
During the segment, Cohen interviewed Moore, the former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice and controversial Republican who lost a special election to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, under the guise of receive an award in honor of his support for the state of Israel.
In character, Baron Cohen described a fictional “pedophile sleuth”. During the episode, the device – which looks like a hand-held metal detector – was shown beeping near Moore, implying he was a child molester. Moore walked out of the interview.
In its ruling, the Second Circuit said Judge Moore signed a release waiver before the interview, the plain language of which barred Moore from future claims of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud. The court also agreed with a lower court, “that the segment at issue was clearly a comedy and no reasonable viewer would conclude otherwise.”
“Humor is an important means of legitimate expression and is essential to the well-being of individuals, society and their government,” the ruling said.
Larry Klayman, Moore’s attorney, told CNN on Friday that they plan to request a rehearing. Klayman said he thought the decision was a “terrible decision” that goes “way beyond Roy Moore”, suggesting that at least two of the judges on the three-judge panel, all of whom were appointed by the presidents Democrats Clinton and Obama have challenged Moore because he is a Republican.
CNN has contacted the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for a response to Klayman’s allegation of bias.
Klayman added that he thinks the case should have gone to a jury and that the waiver signed by Moore was “ambiguous”.
In the consent agreement, Moore had hand-crossed out a section dealing with sexual content. At this point, this court ruled: “We are not convinced”.
“After nearly four years of litigation, it appears Mr. Moore’s frivolous trial is finally over,” Russell Smith, Baron Cohen’s attorney, told CNN on Friday.
CNN has contacted CBS for comment. Showtime declined to comment on the decision when contacted by CNN.