Michael/LaToya Jackson scene axed from Bruno

A Michael Jackson-related scene has been hurriedly edited out of Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming blockbuster-to-be Bruno in time for its LA premiere, which transpired hours after the pop singer’s unexpected death on Thursday (U.S. time). The sketch consists of an interview between Cohen’s titular character, a flamboyantly gay 37-year-old Austrian fashion reporter, and LaToya Jackson, sister to Michael. Plenty of critics had already seen the film before the cut; here is an account of the omitted scene from American blogger MaryAnn Johanson:

“Bruno, who is trying to become famous in America, is in Los Angeles filming interviews for what he hopes will be a new TV show, and he gets LaToya Jackson to talk to him on camera. In typical Sacha Baron Cohen way, he humiliates her in ways that she doesn’t even realize she’s being humiliated, and some ways that she does catch on to. Some of that has to do with her brother Michael. Michael does not appear in the film at all, but certainly there’s a spirit of poking fun at the most outré aspects of his celebrity.”

The sketch reportedly also depicts Bruno searching LaToya’s BlackBerry for Michael’s phone number. After Thursday’s premiere director Larry Charles said “we decided to take it out for tonight and we’ll reassess before the release whether to keep it out.”

Universal no doubt had some high octane production meetings to thrash out the pros and cons of axing the scene and on Friday confirmed it would indeed be removed from final cut. Offending fans no doubt factored in the decision making but keeping the scene in would also make the film look instantly dated, even if Jackson’s death will still be recent news when Bruno opens (July 9 in Australia and July 10 in the U.S.). We can assume the scene will be included in extras and outtakes when the film is eventually released on DVD.