Sacha Baron Cohen steals the show with hilarious swipe at Mark Zuckerberg

Sacha Baron Cohen arrives at the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards. Photo / AP

While most of us were expecting the Golden Globes zinger of the night to come from Ricky Gervais' savage opener, Sacha Baron Cohen may have given him a run for his money.

Shortly after Gervais burned every person in the room, British actor, comedian and director Baron Cohen appeared on stage briefly to present a clip from Jojo Rabbit.

Only the This Is America star used it as an opportunity to take a vicious swipe at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who he has long been critical of, reports news.com.au.

The Borat star said to roars of laughter from the audience: "The hero of this next movie is a naughty child who spreads Nazi propaganda and only has imaginary friends. His name is Mark Zuckerberg. Sorry, this is an old intro for The Social Network – I'm talking about Jojo Rabbit."

Following the swipe, Twitter was awash with praise for Baron Cohen:

#mancrush
Sacha Baron Cohen roasting Zuck #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/DVnJobpJCt

— Scott Galloway (@profgalloway) January 6, 2020

WHOA.... this moment.
⁦@SachaBaronCohen⁩ calling out Mark Zuckerberg! pic.twitter.com/S6vEvGRSjf

— Marcus Baram (@mbaram) January 6, 2020

I will never get tired of seeing Sacha Baron Cohen lay into Mark Zuckerberg.#GoldenGlobes

— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) January 6, 2020

In November this year, Baron Cohen accepted the International Leadership Award at the Anti-Defamation League's Never is Now summit on anti-Semitism and hate.

While accepting his recognition, he used his keynote speech to single out Zuckerberg for being the one Jewish-American who he believes is doing the most to facilitate "hate and violence" in America.

"It's like we're living in the Roman Empire, and Mark Zuckerberg is Caesar," he said at one point. "At least that would explain his haircut.

"This is about giving people, including some of the most reprehensible people on earth, the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet," he continued, referencing Zuckerberg's argument that Facebook is a platform of "free expression".

"Freedom of speech is not freedom of reach. Sadly, there will always be racists, misogynists, anti-Semites and child abusers. But I think we could all agree that we should not be giving bigots and paedophiles a free platform to amplify their views and target their victims."