Sacha Baron Cohen Hasn't Been Banned From Oscar Ceremony... Yet
"We haven't banned him...We're just waiting to hear what he's going to do" says the Academy.
Sacha Baron Cohen has not been banned from attending this Sunday's Oscar awards ceremony, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Academy have gone on record to deny the online report that the British comedy actor had seen his tickets revoked for Hollywood's biggest annual event for threatening to turn up as his outrageous character from "The Dictator". The satirical Paramount Pictures comedy opens May 11th and is the third movie in the improvisational comedy trilogy that re-teams Cohen with director Larry Charles. Cohen plays two roles, one of an outlawed foreign dictator who finds himself lost in America and is loosely based on the memoirs of Saddam Hussein and the other as goat herder. It is as the democracy killing Dictator the rumours started spreading this week he was going to dress up and appear at the Oscars as, which was said to have caused a panic with the senior Academy members. "We haven't banned him," an Academy spokesperson told the trade, "We're just waiting to hear what he's going to do." Though the Academy have been quick to announce that Cohen is not welcome to appear on the red carpet for any kind of promotional stunt for his other comedy, or any other movie for that matter. Cohen has been invited as a major cast member of the Best Picture Oscar nominated Hugo but his rumoured appearance as The Dictator caused such a stir with the Academy that they notified his reps and Paramount (the studio also behind Hugo) immediately to find out his plans. "We don't think it's appropriate," the Academy spokesman told THR "But his tickets haven't been pulled. We're waiting to hear back." Paramount and Cohen's reps have declined to comment. Cohen of course has history of doing promotional stunts for his movies. He dressed up as Borat for the launch of the film at the Toronto International Film Festival back in 2006 in a wagon pulled by Kazakhstani peasant women. He also appeared at the 2009 MTV Music Awards as gay fashion guru Bruno to promote his follow-up, though MTV likely encouraged that one.