The last 2 days has been on ongoing saga about Sacha Baron Cohen… first we heard that he was being barred from attending the Academy Award red carpet if he comes dressed as his character from his new film The Dictator. The day after, Sacha released a response to the academy as General Aladeen, and yesterday we found out that SBC will indeed be walking the red carpet in character as The Dictator and then attending the Oscars show tonight. There is talk now about the whole saga being a publicity stunt for both the SBC film and the academy. There has also now been backlash about the Muslim-Jewish issue it has created….
Yesterday morning Sacha, who is known for his antics and pranks like this one, released a photo of himself (as General Aladeen) holding 2 Oscar tickets and a pistol and he made a statement explaining his triumph over the “Zionist snakes of Hollywood” who are now allowing him to attend the Oscars as the Dictator.
“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!”
Some reports out there are questioning whether the Academy helped orchestrate this publicity stunt with SBC all along. The studio has denied this was a set-up, but the question does deserve to be asked…. it doesn’t make sense that they would release a statement 3 days ago saying that he can’t come in character, then allowing him to after several clever publicity tactics create general Oscar hype. Hmm….
Putting that aside and assuming the academy wasn’t involved (which to be honest, I am not sure about) I am glad that SBC is walking the red carpet in character because it will spice it up a bit. There has been many comments already from people worried that this year’s awards show is going to be unexciting. The other issue that has come from this stunt is the antisemitic dialogue it has sparked. SBC, a Jew himself, in character has referred to the academy as the Academy of Motion Picture ”Arts & Zionists” deliberately firing up the controversial topic of Hollywood and Jews. If SBC weren’t a Jewish man, this comment would be highly problematic, but even so, it has created a forum for anti-Semitic comments on online forums. Deadline Hollywood, one of the blogs that posted this story yesterday, received many anti-Semitic comments which had to be deleted. I know that SBC is all about creating controversial dialogue and pushing the envelope, but has his plan back fired?
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I find this dick so unfunny and I loathe his movies. Why does he have to come in character? We don’t see Meryl Streep on the red carpet as Thatcher or Michelle Williams as Marilyn.