We thought Rebel Wilson would take the title for most divisive presentation speech of the night, but it turns out we hadn't seen Sacha Baron Cohen's yet.

And really, we never should have ruled him out.

Taking to the stage to present the Best Actress award at Sunday's EE BAFTA Film Awards ceremony, the actor's speech began with what seemed like a heartfelt sentiment, before it took a quick turn into the contentious.

"The main reason I agreed to present at this awards ceremony is that BAFTA has shown none of the discrimination and prejudice that is so shamefully on display at the Oscars," he began. 

"It gives me great pride that every single year BAFTA makes sure that at least one of the nominees for Best Actress is a dame. Dench, Smith, Jolie... And the nominations for Best White Actress go to..."

The award ultimately went to Brie Larson for her performance in Room, but considering that introduction it may be a good thing that she wasn't able to be there to pick up the award in person.

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Unlike Wilson's own speech causing a bit of a stir, Cohen's bold statements were largely met with good will by Twitter users:

BAFTAs 2016: All the news, gossip, exclusives and red carpet photos from the annual film awards

Lettermark
Megan Davies is a freelance sub-editor and news writer at Digital Spy, and is a lover of good TV, good coffee and any story with a solid twist.