PHOENIX — The City of Kingman is not happy with Sacha Baron Cohen after becoming his latest target on Sunday's episode of his satirical Showtime show, “Who Is America?”
Kingman sent a release Monday calling Cohen's show "very lowly rated" and saying he made "big mistakes."
The segment in Kingman features Cohen posing as a developer whose firm is bringing a multimillion-dollar project to the city. He was presenting the project to a room of locals.
But things turned rather ugly when the room learned what the project actually was: "the world's largest mosque outside the Middle East."
Cohen's character was the only one applauding.
One person said when they hear the word "mosque" they think "terrorism." A man said he was racist toward Muslims and another said that black people weren't welcome in Kingman.
“Every city has resident voices that challenge respect and dignity for others. They are wrong and unfortunate," the city said in a release. "That was no exception on Sunday’s ‘Who Is America?’ show on Showtime in which an actor baited purported residents to vociferously oppose a fictitious, supersized mosque in our city."
The City of Kingman said they've made "great strides to erase previous perceptions," adding the city does have a mosque, a "robust" Latino community, African Americans applying for leadership positions, and tourist from all over, especially from Asia who are "fascinated by our Route 66 history."
"It might be easy to laugh off what took place Sunday night on a show with very low ratings that tries to make everyone look bad," the city said, before throwing shade at New York City for rejecting a mosque and Scottsdale for debating a Jewish Community Center. "But shrugging this off is not going to be us."
The City of Kingman said it's going to use this opportunity to "keep moving our community forward."
"While we’ve been making progress, the comments in the show, fairly or unfairly, show that we still have more work to do," the city said.
In a release, the city mentioned "additional steps" it would be taking
Kingman said its city manager, in honor of its "significant Latino community," would bring the city council a "resolution in support of National Hispanic Heritage Month." The city will also invite Phoenix Pastor Warren Stewart to "help honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day," and will develop the community's first Diversity Commission.
The city said the commission would be "charged with expanding what our city and community does for people of all types and persuasions that have contributed, and will contribute, to this great country."
"This is the Kingman of today, and will be the one of tomorrow," the city said.
Cohen's show has been making headlines recently with his trolling of prominent politicians.
Joe Arpaio said he was duped by the actor and a butt-baring Georgia representative handed in his resignation after appearing on the show.