The Dictator On SLN 'Saturday Night Live' with Martin Scorsese

The Dictator: Larry King Interview with Sacha Baron Cohen

Dictator Press Conference - Dictator meets Israeli Journalist

Sacha Baron Cohen's 'Dictator' oppresses Jon Stewart

Admiral-General Aladeen appears on "The Daily Show" to promote his new film "The Dictator" and to sow fear in the hearts of freedom-loving people everywhere.

Actor Sacha Baron Cohen speaks Hebrew instead of Arabic to portray Admiral-General Aladeen.  |  Photo credit: Reuters

The Supreme Leader of the Republic of Wadiya, his Excellency Admiral-General Aladeen, appeared on "The Daily Show" on Monday to promote his new film, "The Dictator" and to sow fear into the hearts of freedom-loving people around the world.

Brandishing a gold pistol and protected by two virtuous machine gun-touting bodyguards in mini-skirts, the admiral-general extolled the virtues of oppression and degradation, and regaled the audience with anecdotes from his friendships with some of the most despicable and despised dictators the world has to offer.

Sacha Baron Cohen's 'Dictator' holds press conference in N.Y

Sacha Baron Cohen's The Dictator

The character — a mashup of Muammar Gadhafi, Saddam Hussein and other Middle Eastern tyrants — used the appearance to promote the film, which follows the despot during an Ahmedinejad-style visit to New York City. General Aladeen — the leader of the fictional country of Wadiya — reported that the film has already received raves from Roger Ebert and the New York Times, though in both cases the praise was extracted via torture.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘dictator’ exiled from Oscars

Security guards remove Sacha Baron Cohen from Oscar ceremony after he spills “ashes” on television host • Cohen initially blames “Zionists” for banning him from the ceremony • Academy says Cohen is welcome, just not in character.

News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff

Sacha Baron Cohen, dressed as Admiral General Shabazz Aladeen, on the Oscar red carpet. [Archive]  |  Photo credit: AP

British Jewish comedian Sacha Baron Cohen was forcibly removed from the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday after spilling a powdery substance all over E! host Ryan Seacrest’s tuxedo.

Despite being expressly forbidden to do so, Cohen arrived at the ceremony dressed as Admiral General Shabazz Aladeen, the lead character in his latest film, “The Dictator,” flanked by two "amazonian guards" and carrying an urn he jokingly claimed contained the ashes of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Cohen, who routinely dresses in character and takes promotional stunts to new, and often grotesque, levels, had been told by the academy that the Aladeen character was banned from the red carpet. The academy did make it clear, however, that Cohen himself was welcome.

Aladeen is a flamboyant dictator whose dress, manner and spirit are a twisted homage to the late Libyan tyrant Moammar Gadhafi. In a statement on the website of the Republic of Wadiya, the fictional kingdom ruled by the dictator, Aladeen blamed the “Zionists” for the ban. “Admiral General Aladeen will deliver a formal response tomorrow morning to being banned from the Oscars by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Zionists,” he wrote on Thursday.

In typical tyrant fashion, Cohen defied the ban and appeared on the Kodak Theater’s red carpet Sunday night in full regalia as Aladeen. Seacrest grabbed the comedian for an interview, during which he explained that he was carrying the urn because it was Kim's dream “to be sprinkled over the red carpet and over Halle Berry’s chest.” Then, as Seacrest was bending down, Cohen dumped the ashes all over his designer tux.

He was then escorted off of the red carpet while a shaken Seacrest attempted to dust himself off.

As security muscled Cohen away, Seacrest tried to cut to commercial, but his E! colleagues instead jumped in to milk the made-for-live-television moment. It quickly became the most-chatted about topic on Twitter, where commentators eagerly lapped up the rare breach in decorum at the Academy Awards.

Seacrest said, “Anything can happen and it most certainly did, all over my lapel.”

This is not the first time Cohen has found himself at loggerheads with the academy. Five years ago, when he was dressing as his former alter ego Borat, he refused to present an award at the Oscars when he was banned from doing so in character.