Actor Sacha Baron Cohen, originally uninvited by the Academy to the Oscars, was permitted to attend the ceremony on Sunday night in California. Cohen did not come dressed as all the other celebrities did, wearing tuxes or dapper suits. Instead, Cohen came dressed as his new character from the new film ‘The Dictator.’ Cohen went nuts on the red carpet, at the expense of E! host Ryan Seacrest and his tuxedo.
Cohen appeared on the red carpet with two flower women on either side of him as he joked with those around him about having the ashes of North Korean Kim Jong Il, the recently deceased former leader. The face of the leader was pasted on a container being carried by Cohen on the red carpet.
Cohen, in character, was then interviewed by Seacrest. During the interview, Cohen said, “Kim Jong Il wanted to be sprinkled over the red carpet and over Halle Berry’s chest.” After Cohen made this statement, Seacrest bent down and Cohen dumped the supposed ashes all over the host’s tuxedo.
Security guards had to remove Cohen from the area while Seacrest tried to dust himself off and get the program to go to commercial. Those running the program at E! decided to keep the cameras rolling though. The incident then popped up on Twitter as the most discussed topic after it happened.
“Anything can happen and it most certainly did, all over my lapel,” Seacrest said.