Sacha Baron Cohen’s Oscar Skit Yanked
(Yes, that’s him above)
If there was anyone who could fall into the “too racy for the Oscars” category when it came to writing a skit, Sacha Baron Cohen sits at the top of the list. So it’s no surprise that the man behind raunchy-yet-hysterical alter egos like ‘Borat’ and ‘Bruno’ had his skit vetoed from this weekend’s Oscars telecast. Why? Because it apparently contained some jokes directed at ‘Avatar’ director James Cameron, and the show’s producers didn’t want to insult the man behind the biggest movie ever.
In a report broken by New York Magazine’s Vulture blog, the story goes like this: Cohen was announced as an Oscar presenter just last week, so he got going on penning his skit, which would be done along with Ben Stiller. One would think that has the potential to be hysterical, but in the mind of show producer Bill Mechanic, it was too risky.
Vulture reports that Baron Cohen’s skit involved him dressing in a blue ‘Avatar’ female Na’vi costume, unable to speak English. Stiller would be his translator, but as the skit goes on, frustration between the two grows because apparently Stiller isn’t translating properly. It all culminates with Baron Cohen showing everyone that he/she is pregnant … with James Cameron’s baby.
“Let’s just say that Cameron isn’t known to be, shall we say, ‘self-deprecating,’” a Vulture insider explained.
So what now for Sacha? He’s staying put in London and skipping the Oscars altogether. His spokesman explained the situation to Vulture.
“I hate to use the term, because it’s so ubiquitous, but there were ‘creative differences.’ Nothing acrimonious, but both sides felt that since they couldn’t agree, [Cohen] might as well remain in London,” Matt Labov said.
As previously reported, Baron Cohen was also producer’s first choice to host this year’s Oscars, but the Academy similarly balked at the selection of the raunchy comic.
I don’t know about you – but I would have LOVED to see Sacha Baron Cohen host the Oscars. Might be more interesting if he did!
