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Class-less Clown? Comedian Cohen's 'Bruno' Already Making Waves for Campus Antics in 'Racy' Photoshoot

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Leave it to Sacha Baron Cohen to stir things up. The comic entertainer and his upcoming new feature film Bruno is the subject of a few raised eyebrows at the Los Angeles Unified School District when they realized he'd posed for pictures at the Valley's Birmingham High, according to KCOP. In the publicity photos, Cohen is reportedly "wearing not much more than a paper cup as a jockstrap and pretending to sexually abuse a prone football player."

The photos were taken to be included in GQ magazine, where Cohen, costumed as the "over-the-top gay fashion journalist" Bruno character, cavorts with students around the campus, including one in which "Bruno" appears in a sexually-suggestive pose with a high school student, in uniform, doing pushups.

LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines isn't pleased about the pictures; he "is demanding an explanation," as to who approved the photo shoot: "I hold the principal and the athletic director accountable, and I have asked the local district superintendent to take appropriate action,'' [he] said in a published interview.

However, the local district superintendent, Jean Brown, says everything was above board and someone else is to blame: "Permission was obtained from the athletic director, who is the school's point person for Film L.A. Ultimately, the principal is responsible."

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