Sacha Baron Cohen's 'The Dictator' At The Oscars? The Academy Hopes Not

Because Heaven forbid, the Oscars actually be fun....

Actor-comedian Sacha Baron Cohen claims he'll attend this coming weekend's 84th Annual Academy Awards dressed and in-character as the titular Middle Eastern tyrant of his upcoming comedy "The Dictator," sources have told The Hollywood Reporter. Neither "The Dictator" distributor Paramount Pictures nor the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences addressed Cohen's potential stunt to THR, but the Chicago Sun-Times claims that an Academy spokesperson said of the annual procession into what was formerly known as the Kodak Theater "The red carpet is not about stunting. It's not about putting on a zoo."

THR claims that an Academy rep only said that the awards' producers hadn't been told about any plot by Cohen, though other sources claimed Cohen has told both the Academy and Paramount what he has planned. THR reported late Wednesday that an Academy rep denied a report that Cohen has been banned, but that the earlier THR reporting made both Paramount and the Academy aware, and the Academy now wants to know exactly what he'll do.

It wouldn't be the first time the Academy has shut down Cohen. He was asked to be a presenter in 2007, but eventually turned the offer down when he was informed that he couldn't present as his boorish Kazakhstani journalist personality, Borat. The Academy actually considered letting him host the 2010 ceremony, but too many people with power expressed concern that he might be too inflammatory.

Not an entirely unfounded concern.

He did, after all, ride a wagon pulled by "Kazakhstani peasant women" when he attended the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival decked out as Borat. He did raise eyebrows at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards when he was suspended over the crowd and deposited onto an in-on-the-joke Eminem, who then convincingly stomped off just to carry off the whole act perfectly.

There's also the understandable view that the Academy keeps stringent control on individual studios promoting upcoming releases during the show - it was only recently that studios were allowed to buy ad time for individual films during commercial breaks. It would be understandable if, say, Warner Bros. made a stink that Paramount was allowed such a clear, blatant promotion of "The Dictator" on the red carpet against the Academy's usual fairness policy.

But if the concern is just about Cohen, who was invited to attend as part of the cast of Best Picture nominee "Hugo," being outrageous, then it's time for Hollywood's reality-check.

The Academy just can't admit that not everybody considers the Oscars to be as Serious Business as its members do. Some of us just laugh at how stubbornly stuffy and pretentious the awards are. We do that while we simultaneously weep at just how boring they can get.

So Cohen wants to dress in character. Bjork has performed dressed like a swan. Adrian Brody celebrated his Best Actor win by challenging an impressed-looking Halle Berry to an impromptu lip-wrestling match. The year "Blame Canada" from "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" was nominated for Best Original Song, it was performed by Robin Williams. One year, Whoopi Goldberg changed her dress every time she appeared on stage.

And of course, for those of us old enough to remember the year David Letterman hosted and "Pulp Fiction" earned several nominations.....

"Oprah...Uma...Oprah...Uma...Oprah...Uma..."

Sure, the Oscars are black-tie. But would a little color really go amiss?

Acting isn't always just about crying on cue and never going full-retard. Whether the Academy ever admits it or not, comedy is also an art - maybe even a more challenging one than drama. So is bringing a big character to bigger life than anybody ever expected.

Who creates more fascination surrounding characters than Cohen does? Is that not worth appreciating?