Film + TV

Sacha Baron Cohen's wife snuck his Ali G costume into the Oscars

by Jeremy Mersereau

In the aftermath of a strange Oscars ceremony plagued with moments both awkward and disappointing, you could be forgiven for forgetting all about Sacha Baron Cohen’s cameo as his chav comic creation Ali G.

It might have been the 2016 Oscars’ most controversial moment, if not for, you know, all the other ones: Cohen’s Ali G appearance wasn’t approved by the Oscars brain trust, and he had to have his wife, actress Isla Fisher, sneak his trademark red skull cap, fake goatee, and wraparound sunglasses into the handicapped washroom.

Tasked with introducing Best Picture nominee Room alongside Olivia Wilde, Cohen decided to liven things up with an unsanctioned turn as his most esoteric (to Americans anyway) character, the Jamaican culture worshipping poser Ali G. He shouted out “all peoples of all colours” including “Idris Elbow”, “that amazing black bloke from Star Wars… Darth Vader” and “dem very hard-working little yellow people with tiny dongs? You know, de Minions.”

Viewers assumed this was just another of the planned, seemingly-endless attempts to engage with the Oscars diversity controversy without actually saying anything, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

“The truth is we actually had to sneak it in because the Oscars sat me down before and said they didn’t want me to do anything out of order,” Cohen told ITV’s This Morning. “They wanted me to actually present it as myself. But luckily my wife put on the Ali G beard in the disabled toilets so we managed to get away with it.”

Not everyone was in the dark, however: Chris Rock apparently had some words of encouragement for Cohen’s kinda-sorta-maybe risqué jokes:

“I mean there were a few moments I was a bit worried how they’d react to the first gag, but I bumped into Chris Rock actually on the way on and pitched him the gag and he gave me the thumbs up so I went for it.”

[h/t Daily Mail]