Sacha Baron Cohen thought he had exposed paedophile ring while filming 'Who Is America?'

The comedian's conversation with a Las Vegas hotel concierge turned disturbing rather quickly

Sacha Baron Cohen has revealed that he discovered what he believed could be a paedophile ring while filming Who Is America?.

The British comedian was reflecting upon his satirical series, which aired on Showtime and Channel 4 earlier this year, in a brand new interview when he made the revelation.

Speaking to Deadline, Cohen explained how he’d been filming under the guise of Italian playboy Gio Monaldo for a skit in Las Vegas when a conversation with a hotel concierge turned rather disturbing.

“We were shooting some of this at the time of Harvey Weinstein,” he said. “We wanted to investigate how does someone like Harvey Weinstein get away with doing what… get away with criminality, essentially. And the network that surrounds him. We decided that Gio would interview a concierge in Las Vegas.

“During the interview, I revealed that basically Gio has molested an eight-year-old boy. Now, mind you, this is extreme comedy, and we thought that the guy would leave the room. Instead, this concierge stays in the room, and I go: ‘Listen, you’ve got to help me get rid of the problem’.”

It’s here where Cohen claims the concierge gave him advice on how to “silence” the child, with talk even drifting to “murder”.

Cohen continued: “This guy starts advising Gio how to get rid of this issue. We even at one point talk about murdering the boy, and the concierge is just saying, ‘Well, listen, I’m really sorry. In this country, we can’t just drown the boy. This is America. We don’t do that.’ And then, in the end, he puts me in touch with a lawyer who can silence the boy.”

According to Cohen, the concierge then offered to put him into contact with someone who could arrange him a date with a child.

“At the end of the interview I say, ‘Listen, I want to go out and celebrate now. Can you get me a date for tonight?’” Cohen explains. “He says, ‘What do you mean, a date?’ I go, you know, like a young man. He says, ‘Well, what kind of age?’ I say, lower than Bar Mitzvah but older than eight. And he says, ‘Yeah, I can put you in touch with somebody who can get you some boys like that.’”

Cohen and his team of producers immediately handed their footage over to the FBI who, Cohen says, “decided not to pursue it”.
​He added: "We thought perhaps there's a paedophile ring in Las Vegas that's operating for these very wealthy men." Earlier this week, Cohen confirmed the hit series will not be returning for a second run.

The seven-episode season, filmed in secret, saw the Ali G actor take on multiple aliases to trick politicians into saying absurd things. This included former Vice President of the United States, Dick Cheney, who autographed a “waterboarding kit” for Cohen’s Erran Morad, an Israeli anti-terrorism expert with an apparent taste for torture and other extreme methods.

He also duped political figures, such as former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Roy Moore and Sarah Palin in scenes Cohen revealed “weren’t funny enough” for TV screens.