STAT

Sacha Baron Cohen tried to prank Francis Collins. He got a science lesson instead

The latest public figure duped by Sacha Baron Cohen: NIH Director Francis Collins. Here's how he kept his cool.

WASHINGTON — Francis Collins did not take off his pants.

To the contrary, he could sense something wasn’t quite right — perhaps immediately, when his heavyset and dubiously bearded interviewer, sitting in a motorized scooter, began by asking: “Why are big agriculture putting chemicals into our food to make people transgender?”

The man

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