Sacha Baron Cohen is know for his in-character antics, of which there was another prime example at Sunday's Oscars, when he presented as Ali G. But it turns out the Oscars producers were far from on board with his act.
Earlier today, Entertainment Weekly reported that Baron Cohen revealed that the Oscars did not approve of the stunt.
“The Oscars sat me down beforehand and said they didn’t want me to do anything out of order,” he said. “They actually wanted me to present as myself.”
In order to pull off the gag then, he had his wife, actress Isla Fisher, hide his beard in the bathroom. He snuck away under the pretense of food poisoning to change his clothes.
That's not to say that Baron Cohen did not receive any approval for the costume, however. “I actually bumped into Chris Rock on the way on and pitched him the gag,” he said. “He gave me the thumbs-up, so I went for it.”
Baron Cohen's stunt was merely his most recent in a line of awards show debauchery, including, as we previously reported, when he pranked the audience at the 2013 BAFTA LA Britannia Awards by ostensibly pushing an old women in a wheelchair off the stage.
Baron Cohen's new film, The Brothers Grimsby, opens this weekend.