Ashes, ashes, they all fall down. Ryan Seacrest snubbed Sacha Baron Cohen on the red carpet of the 2016 Oscars on Sunday, February 28, four years after the Borat actor showered the TV personality with ashes during the preshow.
The E! News host, who excitedly greeted numerous celebrities on the star-studded carpet outside of L.A.’s Dolby Theatre, was not pleased to see Baron Cohen’s face as he made his way over. Seacrest was caught saying “No” to the comedian, who was walking down the carpet with his wife, Isla Fisher.
Moments later, Baron Cohen spoke to the Associated Press and laughed off Seacrest’s snub. However, the unrelenting actor didn’t give up on the American Idol host that easily. Seacrest was midinterview with Lady Gaga when Baron Cohen slyly interrupted their conversation.
“Just wanted to give you a hug,” Baron Cohen, 44, said as he put his arms around Seacrest.
“Hello!” the shocked multihyphenate replied. “What’s in your hands? What’s in your hands? Check his hands!” (Gaga, meanwhile, smiled politely as the reunion went down.)
Seacrest, of course, was referring to the infamous 2012 Oscar red carpet incident when Baron Cohen dumped fake ashes all over Seacrest’s suit. At the time, Baron Cohen attended the awards show as his Dictator character, and carried an urn over to Seacrest. He then poured the contents all over Seacrest while the rest of America was just stunned.
The incident, however, was eventually resolved backstage at Saturday Night Live. Seacrest told radio show listeners in May 2012: “I saw Isla Fisher and I said hi, and she said these words, and then it dawned on me. She said, ‘I apologize for my husband.’ And I said, ‘Oh, yes, yes, gotcha, thank you, thank you very much for saying that.'”
The radio host then ran into Baron Cohen himself. “He comes off stage, comes over to me, breaks character and says sorry about the Oscars, it wasn’t personal,” Seacrest recalled, saying Baron Cohen was “very, very apologetic and genuine and kind and sweet.”
Watch their reunion above.
