3) The Time He Pissed Off A Palestinian Militant Group
You’ve probably never heard of al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. Sacha Baron Cohen certainly has, though: al-Aqsa is a militant group based in the West Bank. Well, not really – more accurately it’s an entire coalition of multiple armed Palestinian groups, officially designated a terrorist organization by the US for its repeated acts of violence in Israel. And following the release of Bruno, these people wanted to kill Baron Cohen. He knows, because they told him.
It all started when Ayman Abu Aita was interviewed by ‘Bruno’ and portrayed as a terrorist and leader of al-Aqsa, which Aita disputed. al-Aqsa then got involved, calling the interview “a dirty use of our brother Ayman.”
After he started receiving death threats from the group, Baron Cohen had to actually beef up security, just to increase his chances of surviving to make another movie.