Rebel Wilson has claimed that Sacha Baron Cohen is trying to “threaten” her after naming him in her upcoming memoir as an “asshole” that led her to adopt a “no-assholes policy”.
The Australian star previously confirmed that she had written a chapter on a then-unnamed star in Rebel Rising, which is due to be published next month, and subsequently alleged in an Instagram Story that the “the asshole is trying to threaten me”.
“He’s hired a crisis PR manager and lawyers,” she added. “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.”
In a follow-up post, Wilson then named Baron Cohen, writing: “I will not be bullied or silenced by high priced lawyers or PR crisis managers. The ‘asshole’ that I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER or my book is: Sacha Baron Cohen.”
A spokesperson for Baron Cohen has since told NME: “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 first spoke about the “asshole” claim in an Instagram post earlier this month, saying she will “name” the person in question in Rebel Rising.
“When I first came to Hollywood, people were like, ‘Yeah, I have a no asshole policy, that means like, yeah, I don’t work with assholes.’ I was like, ‘Oh yeah. I mean, that sounds sensible or logical,’” she told her followers.
“But then it really sunk in what they were meaning by that, older people in the industry. Because I worked with a massive asshole, and, yeah, now I definitely have a no assholes policy. Chapter on said asshole – it is chapter 23 – that guy was a massive asshole.”
Wilson and Baron Cohen previously appeared in the 2016 film Grimsby together.
Meanwhile, last year Wilson revealed that she was taken to hospital and given stitches after an accident on the set of her film Bride Hard.
“NOT the way I wanted to end this film!” she wrote on an Instagram picture of her injured face.