Sacha Baron Cohen Breaks Silence On Rebel Wilson's Memoir Redaction In The UK

Sacha Baron Cohen has reacted to Rebel Wilson ripping out the pages about him from the UK version of her memoir. 

The update comes after the Hollywood stars have been at loggerheads since Wilson publicized her plan to write about her experience working with Cohen in a chapter dubbed "Sacha Baron Cohen and Other A-sholes." 

A new report claims that the UK edition of Wilson's memoir, "Rebel Rising," will feature redacted passages concerning her time on set with Baron Cohen. 

The pair had worked together on the 2016 comedy movie, "Grimsby," titled "The Brothers Grimsby" for its US release. In light of the news, representatives of Baron Cohen issued a statement declaring:

"Harper Collins did not fact check this chapter in the book prior to publication and took the sensible but terribly belated step of deleting Rebel Wilson's defamatory claims once presented with evidence that they were false."

"Printing falsehoods is against the law in the UK and Australia; this is not a 'peculiarity' as Ms Wilson said, but a legal principle that has existed for many hundreds of years," they stated.

The representatives also noted that the redaction "is a clear victory" for the English writer, which confirmed their earlier claims about this being "demonstrably false, in a shameful and failed effort to sell books."

In the aforementioned chapter, Wilson writes, "SBC summoned me via a production assistant saying that I was needed to film an additional scene."

"What followed was the worst experience of my professional life. An incident that left me feeling bullied, humiliated, and compromised. It can't be printed here due to peculiarities of the law in England and Wales". 

According to The Guardian, the remainder of the page in the book is blacked out. Several additional lines are also redacted on the subsequent pages. Commenting on the changes, a spokesperson for Harper Collins told the news outlet:

"We are publishing every page, but for legal reasons, in the UK edition, we are redacting most of one page with some other small redactions and an explanatory note. Those sections are a very small part of a much bigger story."

In his initial reaction to Wilson's announcement that she wrote a chapter portraying Baron Cohen as a "massive a-shole," The Blast noted that a representative shared 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.'"

It is worth noting that Wilson had previously addressed the alleged drama during a radio interview while promoting her film in 2014. At the time, the "Isn't It Romantic" producer said:

"Sacha is so outrageous. Every day he's like, 'Just go naked, it will be funny.' 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.'"

The drama between Wilson and Baron Cohen began last month when the actress took to her Instagram Story to address her Hollywood colleague directly. Accusing the 52-year-old of attempting to suppress her memoir, the Australian performer wrote:

"I will not be bullied or silenced by high-priced lawyers or PR crisis managers. The 'a-shole' that I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is: Sacha Baron Cohen." 

The message echoed a similar one she shared just days prior, stating, "I wrote about an a-shole in my book. Now, said a-shole is trying to threaten me. He's hired a crisis PR manager and lawyers." 

However, Wilson asserted that the pages would still be released despite efforts to hinder publicity surrounding the project.

The mother of one dropped even more bombshells in "Rebel Rising" when she did not hold back about her encounter with a young member of the Royal Family. 

The Blast reported Wilson's account of the Royal Family member allegedly inviting her to a drug-fueled orgy held at a rented ranch outside Los Angeles. 

While she kept the royal's identity under wraps, she did drop hints that he was male, the incident took place in 2014, and he ranked "fifteenth or twentieth in line to the British throne." 

The mysterious royal supposedly sent a last-minute invite through the "Super Fun Night" writer's friend for the medieval-themed party.

His request for more female guests sparked Wilson's hopes of finding a potential boyfriend at the event. She soon discovered that it was a different kind of party, which included drugs and several intimate events happening simultaneously.

The event understandably shocked Wilson, who claimed she was a virgin at the time. The craziest part of the party came when she was purportedly approached with a $2 million offer to spend the weekend "with some Jordanian prince."

However, upon consulting industry contacts about the proposition, she was cautioned that she would likely be expected "at some point to sleep with the prince."