Sasha Baron Cohen Banned From the Oscars? Maybe, Maybe Not…

After we reported live on this story on MSNBC, there has been some movement on the matter of Sasha Baron Cohen’s plan to dress as The Dictator for the Oscars. Was he or wasn’t he banned from the cermony!?

Due to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s (AMPAS) ban on advertising films during the telecast, (Except for the movie ads during commercial breaks, which they only approved in recent years) Baron Cohen stirred up some controversy over his reported plan to dress up as the lead character from his upcoming movie. (And let’s face it – when he gets into character, it’s rarely a ‘well-behaved’ stunt. What kind of ‘stunt’ is low-key in the first place?)

Cohen apparently had told Paramount, the studio behind the film, of his plan… but not the Oscar gang. When they got word, they reached out to his camp, and made their feelings known.

A spokesperson told Access Hollywood: “He’s not banned, we’re waiting to see what he’s going to do … We’d love to have him there, but we’d like to hear from him what his intent is,” the spokesperson added. “We’ve been in contact with his team and they know we’re waiting to hear, but we’d love to have him at the show.”

Real world interpretation: “we told him that we look forward to him not doing this, otherwise he may have some issues at the security entrance. We can’t wait until he gets back to us to say he’ll do whatever we say! We’d love to have him there in a tux.”

Other reports had claimed that Cohen had already been banned from the evening altogether after the mere mention of the idea on the news.