Arkansas crowds came out for the cage fight and the $1 beers, but what they got was unexpected. Police said that instead of a brawl the two fighters ripped off each other's clothes and kissing - a stunt suspected of being orchestrated by Sacha Baron Cohen.Matt Labov, Baron Cohen Los Angeles publicist, said he had no comment on the faked fights. Baron Cohen is set to release a film next year.
"We had a contract for cage fighting. We were deceived," said Dwight Duncan, president and CEO of Four States Fair Grounds in Texarkana, where the first of two Arkansas fights raised suspicions last month.
The day after the first incident, "Blue Collar Brawlin'," was hosted at the Fort Smith Convention Center.
Fort Smith police Sgt. Adam Holland said organizers told him a character named "Straight Dave" would goad a planted audience member into the ring for a fight. He was told the two men would wrestle, rip away some clothing and share a brief kiss reminiscent of Baron Cohen's kiss with Will Ferrel in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."
Producers said "there would be a romantic embrace," Holland said. "They said it was kind of to essentially make fun, poke fun at wrestling - two guys rolling around on the floor, all sweaty."
An elaborate array of cameras caught the crowd of 1,600 reaction to the act, which almost crossed the city's morality laws, Holland said. The men stripped down to their underwear, began kissing and rubbing each other.
The audience and other fighters became enraged, the sergeant said.
"It set the crowd off lobbing beers," he said. "They had beers in plastic cups. Those things can get some distance on them actually."
Holland said it took 45 minutes to clear out the convention center, while the two actors escaped through a predetermined escape tunnel.Those in attendance were told by several signs on display that they'd be filmed, Holland said, and signed waivers before the event. Convention center sales director Karin Hobbs declined to name the event's sponsor.
Baron Cohen gained fame in for his 2006 film "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," where he played a bumbling reporter from the Asian nation.
Baron Cohen is currently producing a film featuring Bruno, a gay Austrian fashion reported featured on "Da Ali G Show" - the same program Borat evolved from. On the show Bruno would often interview unsuspecting subjects in the South.
