Ryan Seacrest on Sacha Baron Cohen's Oscar Prank: 'I Definitely Did Not Know' (Audio)

Ryan Seacrest put to rest any theories that he was involved in Sacha Baron Cohen aka The Dictator’s on-air prank that left him covered in what the actor referred to as Kim Jong Il’s ashes during E!’s Oscars red carpet coverage on Sunday.

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“I definitely did not know that he was going to do that!” Seacrest says during his radio show, On Air With Ryan Seacrest, on Monday.

The E! personality and American Idol host says that he did have some early premonitions that something was going to happen with Cohen. The actor’s team called Seacrest’s bookers ahead of the red carpet to gauge his interest in interviewing The Dictator.

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“Now when we said yes,” Seacrest recalls. “In the back of my head I’m thinking this guy isn’t coming as The Dictator to not do something – to what extent, I don’t know. Would it be a joke or would it be something physical?”

Well, it was kind of both. He says he was “surprised, but not surprised” by the dirty prank at the same time.

Thankfully as Seacrest tweeted last night (and he reiterated on the radio show), his mother had impressed upon him that he should always bring two jackets when hosting a red carpet.

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“You never know what’s going to happen, you never know what you’re going to spill on yourself,” the host recalls his mom’s advice. “And you want to be red carpet-ready at all times, because that’s your job… So, I had another jacket.”

Seacrest seemed in good spirits after the incident happened, joking on Twitter, while other Hollywood personalities weighed in on whether they thought Cohen’s prank was funny or not.

As of the posting of this article, almost 50 percent of THR’s readers who answered our poll said it was hilarious, while 37 percent said they didn’t find Cohen’s prank funny.

Listen to Seacrest’s account of the incident below (starting at 1:42 in).

Email: Jethro.Nededog@thr.com; Twitter: @TheRealJethro