Sacha Baron Cohen Releases A Statement About Kim Jong Il’s Death As His The Dictator Character

When someone like Kim Jong Il dies (even of a heart attack), it’s understood that a lot of the responses will be people cracking jokes at his selfishness while his people starved and his predilection for gray jumpsuits. But Sacha Baron Cohen‘s statement takes the cake—mostly because he released it in-character as His Excellency Admiral General Aladeen from The Dictator.

HuffPo received an honest-to-God fax today from Aladeen lamenting the loss of his “dear friend” and also revealing a few “facts” about the late North Korean dictator:

OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM HIS EXCELLENCY ADMIRAL GENERAL ALADEEN – SUPREME LEADER, ALL TRIUMPHANT GENERAL AND CHIEF OPTHAMOLOGIST OF PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF WADIYA

I am saddened to learn of the passing of my dear friend Kim Jong-Il. Our thoughts go out to his wife and 813 children. “K-Jo” was a great leader, good friend and average double’s badminton partner. He died as he lived, in 3-inch lifts. An extraordinary man, he did so much to spread compassion, wisdom and uranium throughout the world.

On behalf of myself, Ahmadinejad, Chavez and Newt Gingrich, we would like to welcome his son, Kim Jong Un into the “Axis of Evil.”

The facts are, like the persona, fake. But here are some allegedly true crazy facts about Kim Jong Il! Sacha Baron Cohen really hit it out of the park on this one—it’s topical, funny without being overly cruel, and illustrates how utterly ridiculous this man was. I have to agree with those who say this was far funnier than the actual trailer for The Dictator. Here’s the letter in its entirety:

The Dictator comes to theaters on May 11, 2012.