Thanks to Sacha Baron Cohen, the 84th Annual Academy Awards red carpet saw a little more excitement than usual. Dressed as his Dictator character, Admiral General Aladeen of the Republic of Wadiya Media, and carrying an urn he claimed was filled with the ashes of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, Cohen made Ryan Seacrest the victim of his latest stunt.
After talking about his military uniform made by John Galliano and his K-mart socks, Admiral General Aladeen explained he was carrying Kim Jong-il’s ashes because it was the late leader's “dream” to attend the Oscars and “be sprinkled over the red carpet and over Halle Berry’s chest again.” He then dumped the ashes on Seacrest while trying to show the American Idol host something on the bottom of the urn. Seacrest appeared slightly annoyed while he tried to brush powder of his jacket and security pulled Admiral General Aladeen away.
On his radio show Monday, Seacrest said he was “surprised, but not surprised” at Cohen’s stunt. He said he even felt uneasy during the interview and suspected something was coming. "You know in your gut, you feel like, this is going too normally. It just seemed like, he didn't put all that on to just answer a couple questions in character," Seacrest said.
Thankfully, the American Idol host brought a second jacket to the red carpet. "My mom told me when I was a mini red carpet reporter, 'You always want to have two jackets. You never know what's going to happen. You never know what you're going to spill on yourself and you want to be red carpet-ready at all times. That's your job.' So I had another jacket,” he added.
Academy Awards officials initially banned Cohen from appearing in character, saying it was “inappropriate” for him to use their show to promote his film. Oscar producer Brian Grazer then backtracked on the ban.
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