Uh-Oh: Banksy Can’t Attend the Academy Awards in Disguise

With Exit Through the Gift Shop nominated for an Academy Award, street artist Banksy is in a difficult position. You see, the well-known guerrilla artist would like to attend the ceremony and, if he should win the Oscar, would like to appear on stage and accept.

The problem is, Banksy still wants to conceal his identity…so he wants to attend the show in disguise. Problem solved, right?

Er, not really.

The Academy has denied his request to attend in disguise. Bruce Davis, the Academy’s executive direction said the reason is a fear of gatecrashers. “The fun but disquieting scenario is that if the film wins and five guys in monkey masks come to the stage all saying, “I’m Banksy,” who the hell do we give it [award] to?”

Honestly, at that point, I’d assume it was some sort of guerrilla performance art, but I totally get Davis’s point.

So, what is Banksy going to do? Well, since he can’t attend in disguise, you’ve gotta wonder if he’ll show up at all, or if he’ll name a proxy to attend to accept for him, or if he’ll claim he’s sending a proxy but actually show up and pretend to BE his own proxy in order to further confuse us.

Of course, there’s always this possibility: maybe, just maybe, James Franco IS Banksy.

THINK ABOUT IT.