Georgia lawmaker who shouted racial slur on TV to resign

ATLANTA — A Georgia lawmaker will resign after exposing himself and yelling racial slurs on provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen’s cable TV show, a spokesman for House Speaker David Ralston said.

Rep. Jason Spencer had vowed to serve out his term despite the fallout. Now he’ll step down at month’s end, spokesman Kaleb McMichen told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution late Tuesday.

In Sunday night’s broadcast of Cohen’s Showtime series “Who Is America?” Cohen poses as an Israeli military expert who persuades Spencer to take part in several outlandish exercises. The lawmaker is told they’re making a counterterrorism video.

Spencer repeatedly shouts a racial slur for black people after Cohen tells him the tactic is useful for drawing bystanders’ attention to an unfolding attack.