Summary
24 February 2012
Organisers of the Oscars in Hollywood have made it clear that British comedian and actor Sacha Baron Cohen will not be welcome at the annual awards ceremony this weekend if he comes dressed as the character from his new movie. The Borat and Ali-G star plays a Middle-Eastern dictator.
Reporter
Alastair Leithead
Actor Sacha Baron Cohen dressed as a character Kazakh journalist Borat.
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Report
There will be no Middle Eastern dictators walking the red carpet in Hollywood for this year's Oscars - even if they're fictional or Academy members.
The organisers of the biggest movie awards ceremony of the year insisted they hadn't banned British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen from coming to the event, but the notoriously conservative organisation has made it clear they don't want him dressing up in a long beard and white military uniform adorned with medals.
A spokeswoman said: "We have suggested that a red carpet is not the place for a promotional stunt for a movie." He is due to attend with the Oscar-nominated cast of the film Hugo.
Having been stopped from presenting at the Oscars as Borat, and after previous stunts in character at awards ceremonies, the Academy is perhaps right to be wary.
The Sacha Baron Cohen film is called The Dictator, where he plays a Middle Eastern-style leader who, in the publicity "risks his life to ensure democracy doesn't come to the country he's lovingly oppressed".
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Vocabulary
- dictators
leaders who have total power over a country
- fictional
not real, invented
- banned
not allowed
- notoriously
famous for something bad
- dressing up
putting on a disguise
- adorned
decorated
- promotional stunt
something done in order to advertise
- cast
actors in a film or play
- wary
cautious
- oppressed
preveneted from having freedom
