Sacha Baron Cohen’s Award Show Antics
Sacha Baron Cohen’s ostentatious characters are beloved for satirizing American phobias and closed-minded discomforts relating to social issues. In 2006, Borat’s cross-country journey mocked antisemitism and xenophobia. And now Bruno — Cohen’s gay Austrian fashion worker character whose self-titled film premieres this summer — pokes at the empty quest for excess, and its unfettered fear of gays.
A more perfect and public scenario to kick off this conversation could not have occurred: Last night at the MTV Movie Awards, Cohen purposefully placed his bare tuchas in the face of a very unamused rapper, Eminem. Remember Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction? This was better.
First, Cohen soared in on white wings. Then audience members witnessed his targeted fall into the lap of incredulous Marshall Mathers, who walked out of the awards show spitting expletives, and trailed by two meaty bodyguards.
Perhaps Cohen was gunning for such a reaction from Eminem, whose song lyrics have been called homophobic by gay rights groups, including the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. As if to reconcile Eminem’s hating past, Queerlife recently reported that Eminem and Elton John have become fast friends. Would Eminem have reacted better to Sir Elton John’s backside?
Watch the trailer for “Bruno” here.
Watch the incident at the MTV Movie Awards below:
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