Baron Cohen deemed too risky to host Oscars

Sacha Baron Cohen was mooted as the host of this year's Academy Awards, but Oscar bosses thought it was too risky.

Hairspray director Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic are in charge of this year's ceremony, and in a bid to shake things up they thought Bruno star Cohen would be the perfect Oscar host.

However, fearing another controversial moment like last year's MTV Awards where Cohen managed to upset Eminem after his alter-ego Bruno thrust himself onto the lap of the rap star, Oscar chiefs thought it was too much of a risk.

Shankman said, "The Academy swatted it down. They thought it was too big of a wild card."

Instead, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin are hosting this year's ceremony - which takes place on March 7.

Sacha Baron Cohen Profile

Source: Yahoo! Movies