TRIGGERED: Sacha Baron Cohen falls for obvious satire on Instagram, calls for its censorship

The artist, Lushsux, is famous for his edgy sense of humor—something Cohen used to be widely known for. But Cohen, once celebrated as an edgy comedian, is now demanding that other comedians be exiled from social media because he finds their art harmful.

In response, Lushsux posted a painting of Cohen, saying "i trolled borat VERY NICEEEEE"

March 9, 2021

The painting Cohen took issue with shows Microsoft founder Bill Gates holding a syringe full of COVID vaccine, saying "time to install your update." This taps into a conspiracy theory that posits that Gates, who is a proponent of the vaccines, is using them to install microchips in people.

March 9, 2021

Cohen, who has made a career out of satirical films and documentaries, took issue with the painting, seemingly concerned that social media users would think the painting was asserting fact.

The artist, known as Lushsux, responded to Cohen's concerns by saying "this is a joke piece you dork."

March 9, 2021

And noting that perhaps Cohen would be the subject of a forthcoming painting.

March 9, 2021

Lushsux has painted many satirical works, including send-ups of Jeffrey Epstein, Hillary Clinton with a Pepe the Frog in her mouth, Donald Trump, and fictional John Wick.

March 9, 2021

Lushsux taps into other memes as well, and posted to Twitter that additional pieces will be dropping in the coming week.

March 9, 2021

This isn't the first time Cohen has called for Facebook to be more censorious. In October, at a speech he gave to the Anti-Defamation League, Cohen said

"Think about it. Facebook, YouTube and Google, Twitter and others—they reach billions of people. The algorithms these platforms depend on deliberately amplify the type of content that keeps users engaged—stories that appeal to our baser instincts and that trigger outrage and fear," Cohen said.

"It's why YouTube recommended videos by the conspiracist Alex Jones billions of times. It’s why fake news outperforms real news because studies show that lies spread faster than truth."

Yet the truth is Cohen's own work would not survive the censorious cull he is calling for. It would be removed for reasons of "hate speech"—almost all of it. And the messages or lessons Cohen has hoped to convey with his work would be gone too.

Facebook has strict policies in place to control the spread of disinformation, and the third party fact checkers they use to vet the content posted on the site routinely fact check actual and viable information that does not toe the lines of what has been socially determined to be acceptable discourse.

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