What do you do when the AFL Grand Final comes to your city for the first time? Get Borat to pretend to be Freddie Mercury obviously.
The AFL Grand Final is heading to Optus Stadium in Perth in a couple of weeks on September 25th due to COVID-19 and, if growing rumours are to be believed, they’ve only gone and got Sacha Baron Cohen to provide the pre-match entertainment for the event, as none other as Freddie Mercury. And as good as Sheppard and DMA’s were when Brisbane hosted last year, this would be quite the step up.
The juicy gossip started where all good gossip begins, a listener with a ‘reliable source’ phoning into a radio station. As per the Daily Mail, a listener told Triple M’s Breakfast with Basil, Xav & Jenna yesterday, September 13th, that they’d heard the Sacha Baron Cohen news from a very reliable source from the world of footy.
“Who is in Perth right now? Sacha,” they said, noting that the comedian and his family had travelled from Sydney to Western Australia last month. Indeed, we recently brought you the news that Cohen had performed three surprise stand-up sets in Perth, taking to the stage as one of his iconic characters Brüno.
“Sacha has been give the heads-up to do the song,” they insisted. “Sacha Baron Cohen is going to sing (We Are the Champions) on Grand Final day?” one of the hosts of the show asked incredulously, to which another said, “He’d be very good!”
If he were to perform as Freddie Mercury, there would be an added note of spice to things: Cohen was due to portray the legendary Queen frontman in the 2018 biopic movie Bohemian Rhapsody but quit over “creative differences” with the band. He was replaced by Rami Malek, who added insult to injury by winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his version of Mercury.
The Daily Mail Australia has contacted both the AFL and Cohen’s representatives for further comment although we’ve not heard anything yet. I swear, if Grand Final day rolls around in two weeks and Adam Lambert pops out instead, I’ll be sorely disappointed.
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Check out ABC News’ report on the planning for Perth’s Grand Final:
