The Academy Grows A Pair, Sacha Baron Cohen Will Show Up At The Oscars As 'The Dictator'

News

by Kevin Jagernauth
February 24, 2012 6:53 PM
7 Comments

Perhaps realizing that not having The Muppets perform their Best Song nomination, and relying on Cirque Du Soleil as the big centerpiece of entertainment (aside from handing out awards of course) on Sunday night, the Academy has relented on their ban -- sort of -- and allowed Sacha Baron Cohen to show up as his character from "The Dictator" on the red carpet before changing into his formal attire for the ceremony.

“VICTORY IS OURS! Today the Mighty Nation of Wadiya triumphed over the Zionist snakes of Hollywood. Evil and all those who made Satan their protector were vanquished and driven into the Pacific Sea. What I am trying to say here is that the Academy have surrendered and sent over two tickets and a parking pass! TODAY OSCAR, TOMORROW OBAMA!,” General Aladeen said in a statement.

Frankly, this seems to us like something to look forward to during the red carpet preamble, besides the seizure inducing nonsense of Billy Bush or whatever mindless entertainment channel drone will be conducting the interviews. They should just have Sacha's Dictator do the whole damn red carpet to be honest. Either way this is all pretty great and free promo for Paramount's comedy, so they're loving this "controversy" for sure, but with all this hype, Cohen better bring the funny.

The Academy Awards are on Sunday and "The Dictator" begins its Oscar qualifying run on May 11th. [Deadline]

News

More: The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen, Oscars

7 Comments

| Reply
Bakunin | February 25, 2012 2:46 PMReply

In total agreement with MACBLOW, it's kind of sad how everyone thinks letting Cohen do this means "growing a pair" while nobody criticizes the overall racism of the character. Imagine if someone made a caricature of Netanyahu or Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, a former nightclub bouncer turned fascist politician, there would be an uproar and someone would get fired.
Macblow | February 25, 2012 6:10 AMReply

Boy from prominent Jewish family gives us Borat, the dumb Muslim. Now, The Dictator, another dumb Muslim. Are we seeing the full picture, yet? At a time when our corporate-banking overlords are instructing their employees (government/mainstream news media) to whip up hysteria and hatred of all things brown, Syrian and Iranian, I think Mr Cohen should crawl back to the rock he emerged from.
jingmei | February 25, 2012 12:42 AMReply

You know many presenters on the gala show just promote their upcoming roles potentially, without costumes.
Guest | February 24, 2012 10:13 PMReply

Hardly. The Academy Awards should not be the MTV Awards. Sure self promotion occurs to an extent with the stars' appearances, but, this idiot wants to turn the show into his own personal commercial. They should have stuck to their guns and shut the idiot out. No one would have missed him. One less viewer here..
Ken | February 25, 2012 3:32 AM

He's wearing the dictator outfit for the red carpet, but changing to his formal attire during the actual award ceremony. So why would this affect your viewing of the Oscars anyway? Who cares about the red carpet special?
jimmiescoffee | February 24, 2012 7:08 PMReply

Billy Bush
rotch | February 24, 2012 7:07 PMReply

"Grows a pair"? It rather seems that they reached an agreement on how much would they charge him for letting him promote his movie during their show.