Vulture is reporting that Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) was taken off the list of Oscar presenters at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards because one of the broadcast's producers thought he might offend nominee for Best Director James Cameron.

Apparently, an Avatar sketch planned by Baron Cohen and Ben Stiller was nixed by show producer Bill Mechanic. A source close to Vulture says that:

"Baron Cohen planned to appear onstage as a blue-skinned, female Na'vi, with Stiller translating her" interplanetary speech. As the skit went on, though, it would become clear that Stiller wasn't translating properly, because Cohen would grow ever more upset. At its climax, an infuriated Baron Cohen would pull open "her" evening gown to reveal that s/he was pregnant, knocked up with Cameron's love child, and would go on to confront her baby daddy as if s/he were on Jerry Springer."

Mechanic was head of Twentieth Century Fox when Cameron's Titanic was made there. Academy spokesperson Toni Thompson would only say that Baron Cohen was no longer presenting.

Matt Labov, the spokesperson for Baron Cohen, says:

"I hate to use the term, because it's so ubiquitous, but there were 'creative differences.' Nothing acrimonious, but both sides felt that since they couldn't agree, [Cohen] might as well remain in London."