Actor-prankster Sacha Baron Cohen paid O.J. Simpson more than $20,000 to appear in his next movie — prompting outrage from the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, according to a report Sunday.
Cohen — best known for creating movie characters such as Ali G and Borat — wore a wig and thick-rimmed glasses to meet the grid great-turned-ex-con inside a Las Vegas hotel room, a production source told The Mail on Sunday.
Cohen’s signature is disguising himself as his goofy characters and fooling unsuspecting dupes.
He had to pony up the dough before Simpson (inset) even agreed to see him, the source said.
“O.J. would not even get in the hotel room until he was paid a sackload of cash,” the source said.
“There was no way Sacha could have got O.J. into the room without paying money.”
A rep for Cohen could not be reached for comment.
In brief comments to The Mail, Simpson simply said of Cohen, “I know him well. I met him. Nice guy.”
Simpson declined to say whether he was paid by Cohen.
The Heisman Trophy winner and NFL Hall of Fame running back was acquitted of charges that he murdered his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend Goldman, in 1994. But a civil jury still found Simpson liable for the slayings and ordered him to fork over $25 million — a penalty that has largely been ignored by O.J.
Simpson was later convicted of an armed-robbery scheme in Las Vegas that landed him nine years in a Nevada prison.
He was released in October.
If Simpson did get paid by Cohen, then the money should be used to pay his civil-judgment debt, said David Cook, a collections lawyer who works for Goldman’s dad, Fred.
“Paying money — cash no less — in secret to O.J. Simpson is 100 percent unadulterated sleaze,” Cook told The Post. “This is nuts.”
Nicole’s sister, Tanya Brown, was horrified that someone might want to pay Simpson.
“Nicole and Ron are two human beings who were brutally murdered,” she told The Mail. “This is not a joke, nor is it entertainment.”