Sacha Baron Cohen at the premiere of Bruno held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood (6/25)
A scene featuring La Toya Jackson was cut from Bruno just a few hours before the premiere in Hollywood yesterday. From The Sun:
The scene was axed just a few minutes before last night’s premiere of the movie in LA after producers heard of MICHAEL JACKSON’s death. In it the gay Austrian fashion reporter pesters LaToya repeatedly about Michael, as he uses a Mexican immigrant for a chair.
The studio confirmed the cut to the Wall Street Journal, with a source saying: “Even in the often-shocking comedy, jokes at the expense of the late Mr Jackson would have been in poor taste.” The studio added that they did not expect the scene to be restored for the film’s worldwide release on July 10.
After reading this story, there was a brief moment where I thought to myself: “Wow, Sascha Baron Cohen does have a heart.” But then I read it again and noticed something — HE WAS USING A MEXICAN IMMIGRANT AS A CHAIR! If you think they took this scene out of the movie for something altruistic like “avoiding jokes at the expense of the late Mr. Jackson,” you’re kidding yourself. They took it out so they wouldn’t have the expense of using Union labor on the sequel.
[Flynet, WENN, Mavrixonline]