‘The Dictator’ to attend the Oscars after all

British Actor Sacha Baron Cohen will reportedly attend the Oscars ceremony Sunday, promoting his latest spoof “The Dictator”, where he plays a tyrant in a film loosely based on Saddam Hussein’s book “Zabiba and the King.”

Cohen wants to walk the red carpet sporting the attire of his character, General Aladeen, a cross between Saddam Hussein and Colonel Muammar Qaddafi.

Earlier, reports surfaced that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would not release Cohen’s tickets to him and planned to ban him from attending the Oscars unless he promised not to pull any stunts as they did not want the award ceremony to become a publicity event for the actor’s upcoming film.

But the Academy denied issuing any ban and said Cohen is welcome to the ceremony.

A statement was posted to General Aladeen’s Twitter account in response to the decision of the Academy to allow Cohen’s attendance dressed as The Dictator:

“VICTORY IS OURS! Today the Mighty Nation of Wadiya triumphed over the Zionist snakes of Hollywood. Evil and all those who made Satan their protector were vanquished and driven into the Pacific Sea. What I am trying to say here is that the Academy have surrendered and sent over two tickets and a parking pass! TODAY OSCAR, TOMORROW OBAMA!”

Cohen is a voting member of the Academy and, who will attend the Oscars show as part of the cast of Martin Scorsese’s 3D adventure “Hugo,” which is nominated in 11 categories, the most for any film, where he plays a rather conservative character.

Cohen called Oscar ‘Zionists’

Earlier, Cohen threatened Academy Award “Zionists” with “unimaginable consequences” if he was banned from Sunday’s Oscars, in a spoof riposte to a warning against staging a publicity stunt.

In full regalia as the military dictator from his latest film, the colorful British actor gave them a deadline of noon Sunday to approve his attendance at Tinseltown’s biggest awards show that evening.