Sacha Baron Cohen Banned From Attending Oscars

According to the NY Post, representatives from the Academy Awards have warned comedian Sacha Baron Cohen that if he shows up for this Sunday's Oscars dressed as General Aladeen, the character from his upcoming comedy THE DICTATOR, he will be banned from  the show. 

Confirmed an Oscar representative, "He's still invited. We would love for him to come. We have expressed that we don't feel it's appropriate to use our Oscar red carpet as a venue for a movie promotional stunt." When questioned what the consequences would be if Cohen disobeyed the warning, the rep simply responded, "We'll have to cross that bridge when we get to that."

THE DICTATOR is coming to theaters on May 11, 2012 from Paramount Pictures. The film follows the heroic story of a dictator who risked his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.

Larry Charles, who previously directed Baron Cohen's mockumentaries Borat and Brüno, will also direct the film. Baron Cohen will star alongside Ben Kingsley and Anna Faris. The film is said to be inspired by the novel Zabibah and the King by Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

The British comedian is best known for his 2007 hit, "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" in which he convinced Americans that he was an antisemitic journalist from Kazakhstan.