Those at rally share details of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s surprise appearance
Audience members wearing earpieces, others holding cameras and security guards that turned against organizers were just some of the details of a surprise appearance made by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen at a conservative rally in Olympia on Saturday.
Entertainment trade publication, Variety, is reporting that Cohen has “pulled off his latest prank.”
Saturday’s rally was called “March for Our Rights 3,” which was held at Heritage Park in downtown Olympia.
The event featured guest speakers and musical performances, including singer Larry Gatlin. But before Gatlin took the stage, organizers were told the middle act would be the “Alright Boys,” a phony name for the band that backed up a singing Cohen.
Twitter videos show Cohen singing a song that pokes fun of political beliefs.
Event emcee and guest speaker, Matt Marshall, and Yelm City Councilman, James Blair, both attended the rally.
“Cohen was dressed in a strange hillbilly costume,” Blair said in an email to The Olympian Sunday morning. “(Cohen) was noticed by quite a few people throughout the event prior to going on stage, and (some) raised red flags. It was when I actually heard his voice I had my suspicions it was him. Others identified him as well.”
Marshall took a food break about 3 p.m. Saturday, then returned to the park to hear people yelling and screaming at Cohen, apparently offended by the song. Marshall estimates that Cohen took the stage for about 10 minutes.
Organizers and others tried to get Cohen off the stage, but security guards, which they thought were there for the rally, suddenly prevented them from getting to the stage, Marshall said. They finally broke through security, but Cohen quickly exited to a privately hired emergency medical vehicle, he said.
“There were people throughout the crowd with communication devices in their ears, and cameras on the crowd, which is not something that normally happens at these events,” Blair said in his email. “All of those people, along with the individuals who were singing along with Cohen in the crowd, all disappeared when they retreated off the stage to the ambulance and left.”
Marshall said he wasn’t sure if the people in the audience were just planted there, or if they left because they were offended by the song.
According to Marshall, a group called Back to Work USA reached out to organizers earlier in the month, saying they were a political action committee from Southern California that would provide the stage and sound system and grant access to the stage for guest speakers.
Among the speakers: initiative king, Tim Eyman, and Patriot Prayer’s Joey Gibson, according to Marshall.
Although Marshall is the founder of “3 percent of Washington,” he resigned from the group a month ago, he said. He described the rally as a conservative, pro-America, Bill of Rights-focused event.
Councilman Blair, who wrote about Cohen’s appearance on his personal Facebook page Saturday night, said he has taken some undeserved heat for it.
“I haven’t been contacted by anyone claiming to be associated directly with Cohen,” he said in his email. “However, in the last 12 hours my post has been distributed throughout many social media channels, with who knows what commentary. I’ve had hundreds of people calling me a racist, Nazi, and white supremacist, none of which has any ounce of truth.”
During the rally, Marshall said some attendees had swastika tattoos. They were asked to leave and they did, he said.
After Cohen’s appearance, singer Larry Gatlin reportedly said to Marshall, “What was that? I thought this was a Republican second-amendment event.”
This story was originally published June 28, 2020 at 2:13 PM.
