Sacha Baron Cohen's Avatar Sketch CUT From Oscars

NY Mag's Vulture:

Just a week ago, Sacha Baron Cohen "the alter ego of Borat and Bruno" was announced as an Oscar presenter by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Now, suddenly, Baron Cohen has vanished from that list. Why is he gone from the show? Because one of the broadcast's producers was scared he might offend gazillionaire Best Director nominee James Cameron.

Read the whole story: NY Mag's Vulture

Comments

[daveanders]

02:27 PM on 03/03/2010

the movie industry celebrating itself= lame!!!! making fun of itself would make more sense.

[Number1Dem]

01:52 PM on 03/03/2010

Hopefully the skit will find it's way onto the internet and then we can make up our own minds.

[MikeDu]

12:35 PM on 03/03/2010

Sounds like Cohen's 15 minutes are up.

[daveanders]

02:26 PM on 03/03/2010

not quite.

[deluk]

03:41 PM on 03/03/2010

well you never have liked him Mike. (some of us have long memories)

[Keenanrh]

11:21 AM on 03/03/2010

what could he possibly have said that would offend cameron? that his movie, while visually stunning, is a pocahontas rip off, to a point where it's almost offensive to think he could win the oscar in front of any of the other nominees whose works are, in principle, and accomplishment, far better than his?

[deluk]

11:21 AM on 03/03/2010

I love SBC, but he's too good for the planets most nauseating, most boring show (outside of the annual Kim Jong Il Birthday Celebration in Pyongyang).

[Aedh Wishes]

12:19 PM on 03/03/2010

He's absolutely brilliant.

(btw: sorry if I inadvertently insulted you on an earlier post -- but I subsequently indulged in some self-flag elation and the mods kindly responded)

[deluk]

03:39 PM on 03/03/2010

You .....insulted....moi?

[Artinhouston]

10:45 AM on 03/03/2010

Wow maybe I actually would have watched the show just for that but nah I will pass on that trash.

[katocat]

04:37 AM on 03/04/2010

You will be missed.

[crossoverwriter]

10:24 AM on 03/03/2010

There's a difference between funny and revolting. Cohen goes way too far. His first film was funny but Bruno ventured into slimy sllug territory.
I'm glad he's banned.
Yeah, it's not a roast, it's an Oscar celebration to honor amazing work.

[situationcritical]

11:00 AM on 03/03/2010

Amazing work?

Hardly.

[crayola 08b]

10:23 AM on 03/03/2010

that's a shame. from what i read of the skit it sounded like it woulda been hella funny

[JenniferWest]

10:05 AM on 03/03/2010

Let's NOT have something entertaining at the Oscars.

[hallowellboy]

10:02 AM on 03/03/2010

He's not funny anyway.

[jlab]

10:11 AM on 03/03/2010

Lemme guess. Leno fan?

[Tamshan]

09:48 PM on 03/03/2010

Good call,jlab .

[shubes61]

09:51 AM on 03/03/2010

if cohen's video doesn't play at the oscars, i'm sure he'll find a way to use it somewhere else... and it will probably be more extreme... i don't see him as a "bow to authority" type of guy.

[CammyV]

09:13 AM on 03/03/2010

Not being a fan of Cohen and his type of humor, I wont miss this sketch at all. I have never understood his insane popularity; are there that many low brow fans who find him hysterical? Are these the same people who follow Howard Stern?

[Nominal]

09:26 AM on 03/03/2010

Cohen's great films force real people to face their (often ugly) prejudices. Many believe him to be a humanist provocateur.

[Brendan H]

09:49 AM on 03/03/2010

The problem is that you missed the point. He is a satirist and by using those low brow techniques, he exposes people for their ignorance. For example. Borat comes from Kazakhstan, a fairly developed, advanced country, but nobody ever questions why he seems to come from some backwater third world country, because nobody knows what Kazakhstan is.

[HBHB]

08:23 AM on 03/03/2010

I would love to see anything that publicly humiliates Cameron but at the same time I'm actually for getting rid of all the song and dance at the Oscars. It's a waste of time and brain cells.

[jerkzilla]

08:16 AM on 03/03/2010

Considering the Sketch had Cohen as a Na'vi that Cameron knocked up, and considering Cameron's prediliction for sleeping with his leading ladies, it's no wonder they cut the scene so his widdle feewings don't get hurt.

[fabricnthreads]

08:05 AM on 03/03/2010

Not a big fan of Cameron's ego, but this would have been a very offensive and insulting skit to watch as a viewer.


It is a very special night, even for those who do not win. No one should be skewered just for the sake of shallow laughter.

There are a million ways to be funny. This doesn't even sound funny. It sounds juvenile and sophomoric. The "Baby-Daddy" thing is way over done.

[jerkzilla]

08:17 AM on 03/03/2010

Cameron sleeps with most of his leading ladies, so it's actually a fitting sketch.

[fabricnthreads]

09:18 AM on 03/03/2010

I don't buy your assertion as a reason to give this sketch a pass.

You state he sleeps with his leading ladies, not that he sleeps with the character each portrays. In this case, and under your premise, the sketch becomes insulting to Zoe Saldana, as well as Cameron.

[BlackJAC]

02:43 PM on 03/03/2010

Suzy Amis wasn't a lead in anything he'd done.