Some Phony Oscar Controversy Like Anyone Cares

The 84th Annual Academy Awards are tonight, and I wish I had some Oscar news that I felt actually qualified as news, but sadly, I have only this story to report. Sacha Baron Cohen wanted to attend the Oscars as his character Admiral General Aladeen from his upcoming film The Dictator. The Academy didn’t like the sound of that, and the media instantly reported that Cohen had been banned from the ceremony entirely. Cohen issued the response you see in the video above, and now he’s allowed to attend the red carpet event in costume, but has to be himself at the ceremony. To me, this all seems a bit manufactured, as though the Academy knows that this year’s Oscars just aren’t very noteworthy and are trying to drum up some controversy to get people interested. Sorry, Academy, but I don’t buy it.