The memoirs of actress Rebel Wilson (Sydney, 44 years old), Rebel Rising, arrived in British bookstores this Thursday, April 25. Chapter 23 is titled Sacha Baron Cohen and other idiots, but it is published with black lines blocking several paragraphs after lawyers for Sacha Baron Cohen (London, 52 years old) objected to the content. The actor and comedian, known for his roles in films such as Bruno, Borat either The dictator, has thus claimed a victory in his battle with the Australian interpreter, who accused him of inappropriate sexual conduct in the book, as could be read in the United States, where the biography was published before. Although that is not in the book that the British are going to buy, they will not be left without knowing that part of the story: dozens of news stories have been published about it in all the media around the world (British included).

In those excerpts removed from its pages, Wilson recounts an incident with Baron Cohen when the two were co-stars in the 2016 film counterintelligence agent, in which they played a couple with nine children. She describes it as “the worst experience” of her professional life, which left her “feeling intimidated, humiliated and compromised.” The actress, also known for her roles in Giving the note either My best friend’s Wedding, regrets that those statements cannot be printed in the British edition “due to the peculiarities of the law in England and Wales.” He explains this at the beginning of that twenty-third chapter, which continues with 33 blacked out lines that are understood to contain those accusations of sexual misconduct.

A spokesperson for Baron Cohen said the redacted claims were “demonstrably false” and “defamatory.” The declaration, initially collected by deadlineHe said: “Harper Collins (the publisher) failed to fact-check this chapter of the book before publication and took the sensible, but appallingly late, step of removing Rebel Wilson’s defamatory claims once it was presented with evidence that they were false ”. The spokesperson also insisted that printing falsehoods is against the law in the United Kingdom and Australia. “This is not a ‘peculiarity’, as Mrs Wilson has said, but a legal principle that has existed for many hundreds of years. “This is a clear victory for Sacha Baron Cohen and confirms what we said from the beginning: that this is demonstrably false, in a disgraceful and failed effort to sell books,” said Baron Cohen’s spokesperson.

The publisher Harper Collins has justified the gaps in the UK edition by claiming that it was “for legal reasons”, but that those silenced lines are “a very small part of a much bigger story”.

The book arrived in American bookstores earlier this April. In this version without deletions, the actress affirms that Baron Cohen, who was also a screenwriter and producer of counterintelligence agent, asked him to perform a lewd act while they were filming in South Africa. The actor, who is in the process of divorcing actress Isla Fisher after 13 years of marriage, vehemently denies having said or done anything she claims. “The movie flopped, which was enough karma for me. I am not in favor of canceling anyone and that is not my motivation for sharing this story. I share my story now because the more women talk about things like this, I hope the less it happens,” Wilson writes in the book.

Baron Cohen’s representatives, for their part, stress that the Australian’s claims are “directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporary documents, film footage and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the murder.” production of counterintelligence agent”.

While promoting his biography, Wilson has clarified that he reported the unpleasant incident to his agent at the time it occurred, but since “this was before the #MeToo movement, I didn’t have the strength or knowledge to do anything else.” according to declared in an interview with People. However, he assures that he refused to do promotional work for this specific film. or attending premieres as a result of their experience during filming.

Another of the passages from the book that is causing the most talk this week is one in which the actress states that an anonymous member of the British royal family, who “occupies the fifteenth or twentieth position in the line of succession to the throne,” He invited him to an orgy in California where drugs were freely offered to the guests – and from which he says he left before it began – and that he was offered two million dollars to “spend a weekend with a Jordanian prince.”