Forget all the big political and economic stories and mysteries, the real mystery now raging is: did Sacha Baron Cohen REALLY surprise rapper Eminem when he landed on him at the MTV Movie Awards? You watch and you decide.
But…not to spoil your fun: a report now says it was staged.
Cohen, the comedian whose mockumentary “Borat” was groundbreaking, made a grand entrance at the awards in his latest incarnation as “Bruno” — and landed right on top of Eminem… .who promptly walked out.
The question now is: did Eminem seemingly storm out because he didn’t like to be (literally) the butt of a joke — or was this a prank? Should have walked out or turned the other cheek? Remember how the late Andy Kaufman set up a supposed fight on the ABC comedy show Fridays, and how he was supposedly hurt by a wrestler. It took decades for the truth to come out (they were carefully planned pranks).
We embed: YOU decide:
But EW reports that it was staged:
Sources close to MTV and Sacha Baron Cohen tell EW that the infamous stunt on the show between Eminem and the Bruno star was staged, with Eminem’s consent and participation. The sources confirm rampant speculation that the rapper simply must have known that the comedian, dressed in a thong and angel’s wings as his flamboyantly gay alter ego Bruno, would fall from a high-wire harness onto the rapper’s lap and straddle his face.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.