Sacha Baron Cohen's Avatar Sketch Cut From Oscars To Not Offend James Cameron

Sacha Baron Cohen planned to appear onstage as a blue-skinned, female Na’vi, with Ben Stiller translating “her” interplanetary speech. As the skit went on, though, it would become clear that Stiller wasn’t translating properly, because Baron Cohen would grow ever more upset. At its climax, an infuriated Baron Cohen would pull open “her” evening gown to reveal that s/he was pregnant, knocked up with Cameron’s love child, and would go on to confront Cameron, Jerry Springer-style.

Oscars producer Bill Mechanic, who worked with Cameron on the multiple Oscar-winning film Titanic, is understood to have axed the idea for fear of the director taking offence. “Let’s just say that Cameron isn’t known to be, shall we say, ‘self-deprecating,’” explained one insider familiar with the decision to cut the sketch.

According to the New York magazine, an Academy Awards spokesman confirmed that Baron Cohen was no longer scheduled to present at the Oscars, despite being announced as part of the telecast last week.

The magazine’s website also quoted Baron Cohen’s agent Matt Labov saying: “I hate to use the term, because it's so ubiquitous, but there were ‘creative differences’. Nothing acrimonious, but both sides felt that since they couldn’t agree, [Cohen] might as well remain in London.”