It was always going to be controversy-filled - but did you expect 'Who is America?' to be quite as shocking in places?
From politicians and lawmakers actually advocating for toddlers to be given guns 'for protection', to an art critic plucking out her own pubes to be used as a paintbrush, the first episode of Sacha Baron Cohen's latest endeavour aired on Channel 4 last night (and on Showtime in the US on Sunday night), and was mostly funny but often horrifying.
Bernie Sanders was pretty much the only person who came out of the first episode with any sense of credibility intact.
See the Twitter reaction below:
congratulations to @SachaBaronCohen for reminding us (hilariously) of how very very very stupid we are. That was just great. #WhoIsAmerica @Showtime
— Jimmy Kimmel (@jimmykimmel) July 16, 2018
Sacha Baron Cohen didn't "dupe" anyone in #WhoIsAmerica He merely put an insane idea in front of bought-and-paid-for NRA shills. They considered it only through the prism of the NRA, then responded the way they knew the NRA would want them to respond. Period.
— Randi Mayem Singer (@rmayemsinger) July 15, 2018
fucking hell 😂 #WhoIsAmerica pic.twitter.com/CO3tMtIxOk
— richard brady is an amazing detective slash genius (@richardbrady_) July 16, 2018
Sacha Baron Cohen literally encouraging fucking idiots to look like fucking idiots in front of a camera without them realising 😂 #WhoIsAmerica
— Nat Davies (@NattyDizzle94) July 16, 2018
“Children under 5 also have elevated levels of theramone Blink 182, produced by the part of the liver known as the Rita Ora.”
ðŸ'€#WhoIsAmerica
— James Scholey (@JamesFromLeeds) July 16, 2018
Gotta feel sorry for Sacha Baron Cohen. On the day he debuts #whoisamerica- a programme in which he goes to great efforts to trick politicos into saying the most outrageous things - he's outshone by the US president saying he trusts an ex-KGB agent over the CIA. #NoJoke
— Billy Bragg (@billybragg) July 16, 2018
how sacha baron cohen didn’t burst into tears whilst an art critic plucked out her pubes for him to use in a paintbrush is absolutely beyond me #WhoIsAmerica
— jord is bored ☠ï¸? (@jordansoyeah) July 16, 2018
Who indeed knew that “the world was capable of such oxymoronic paradoxical juxtapositions” ?#WhoIsAmerica
— Karl Cunliffe (@KDCunliffe) July 16, 2018
The best pisstaker in the long history of pisstaking. It makes me watch through my fingers but Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius!! 😂 #WhoIsAmerica
— Rubio (@AnthonyRubio5) July 16, 2018
When you free bleed on the American flag #WhoIsAmerica pic.twitter.com/bweCttly20
— Chris Harry (@ChrisHarryCH) July 16, 2018
#WhoIsAmerica is a terrifying insight into a few things: 1) these people exist 2) they can vote 3) platforms such as Twitter and other media outlets provide them with a platform to spew their idiocy and hate 4) increasingly they’re taken seriously rather than ridiculed/ignored
— Ahmed Alaskary (@Alaskary89) July 16, 2018
Never before have I watched a TV show that made me plummet from genuine laugh out loud stupor to being utterly dumbfounded and speechless within seconds #WhoIsAmerica
— Kevin Hume (@kevh26) July 16, 2018
#WhoIsAmerica is simultaneously hilarious and fucking terrifying.
— Charley Lawson (@Im_Not_Charley) July 16, 2018