Rumor Mill: Will Sacha Baron Cohen Be Banned from the Oscars?

Hey, look! A video from the fictitious Admiral General Shabazz Aladeen, supreme commander of the Republic of Wadiya!

Genius actor/satirist/provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen has been out of the limelight for a little while now—he’s been hard at work on his latest, The Dictator—but with the movie nearly finished, it’s time to drum up some promotional controversy!

The Academy caught wind that Sacha Baron Cohen—who is attending the Oscars along with the ensemble of Hugo—planned to arrive, in costume and in character, as General Aladeen. The Academy is not amused.

The initial rumor was, Baron Cohen had been banned from the Oscars entirely. Not so! an Academy spokesperson emphasizes. Sacha Baron Cohen is still invited! Just, not in costume.

“His tickets haven’t been pulled,” the spokesperson explains; “we’re waiting to hear back.”

“We want him to come to the show,” adds Academy president Tom Sherak, “but we would like him to come as Sacha.”

In a way, when Baron Cohen claims, in character, that he was “banned from the Oscars,” he is being completely authentic: Admiral General Aladeen really was banned.

This morning, Baron Cohen spoke to the “Today” show:

“Usually I would be impressed by an act of cowardice by a faceless regime,” Baron Cohen, speaking as the Republic of Wadiya leader, said via telephone. “But this is personal.”

Now some people are speculating that Baron Cohen is on a fast track to getting banned from the Oscars totally. According to an ‘insider’, “Sacha is torturing the Academy. I bet when this is over they revoke his membership.”