The Academy wants nothing to do with the controversy usually surrounding the Brit

Feb 23, 2012 15:00 GMT  ·  By

One person you won't be seeing at the 2012 Academy Awards, which will take place this Sunday, is comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. The Academy has more or less officially banned him from the ceremony.

Fans of the star's work must already know that he usually gets into character for months, if not years in a row, during which time he doesn't come out of it until the movie he's promoting is out of the cinema.

The same happened with “Borat” and “Bruno,” when Cohen would stage the most outrageous red carpet appearances and media interviews, without once giving himself away.

Admittedly, he wanted to do the same at this year's Oscars.

Cohen has a new movie coming out, “The Dictator,” and he wanted to use his time on the red carpet at the prestigious movie awards and, of course, any second he might get on camera during the Oscarcast, to promote the film.

The Academy is not having any of it, Deadline has learned.

Hearing of Cohen's plans, the Academy issued a warning that his tickets would be revoked if he decided to show up in character.

“Unless they’re assured that nothing entertaining is going to happen on the Red Carpet, the Academy is not admitting Sacha Baron Cohen to the show,” a source with Paramount Pictures tells Deadline.

Faced with backlash from the public, the Academy has issued a statement to set the record straight: Cohen isn't banned, but he will get his tickets revoked if he doesn't want to show up dressed like a normal persona.

In other words, yes, he's banned.

Deadline points out that this isn't the first time that Cohen gets this treatment from the Academy, since the same happened in 2007. Back then, though, he wasn't in a nominated film: “Hugo,” leading with 11 nods.

As for why this came to be, Deadline says it could have to do more with self-promotion than a desire on part of the Academy to avoid all controversy.

“Purists feel that the Oscars is no place for such in your face promotion. The Academy hasn’t even allowed movies to be advertised during the Oscarcast, until this year,” the movie-oriented publication writes.

“Then again, these Oscars have very little suspense because it’s a forgone conclusion that many of the winners of the marquee categories are already known and The Artist will win Best Picture. The prospect of Baron Cohen’s Red Carpet walk was the closest thing to drama,” Deadline adds, with a smidgen of regret.