It’s generally frowned upon to push elderly, wheel-chair bound women off the stage at awards shows. That didn’t stop Sach Baron Cohen though from hurling an 87-year-old actress off the stage at the Britannia Awards last week.
Baron Cohen was brought to the stage by Salma Hayek to receive the Charlie Chaplin award for excellence in comedy. While accepting his award he was given Charlie’s old cane by Grace Cullington, the oldest living actress who worked with the honor’s namesake. Baron Cohen then did Charlie’s famous penguin walk with the cane before slipping and flinging the elderly actress right off the stage.
As you can imagine, the crowd was immediately shocked but caught on to the prank when Baron Cohen gave his awards speech and threatened to sue for a defective cane.
“Grace Cullington is the oldest, no, sorry, was the oldest surviving [Chaplin co-star],” Baron Cohen said following the fall. “I dedicate my award to her. This is obviously a tragedy. She has upstaged me. But on the bright side, what a great way to go, giving an award to me. Thus, she’ll probably make the Oscars In Memoriam segment,”
Via EW