Sacha Baron Cohen Defends Ali G Return After 12 Years as 37,658 Boycott Emails Target Film
Updated
Updated · The Independent · Oct 22
Sacha Baron Cohen Defends Ali G Return After 12 Years as 37,658 Boycott Emails Target Film
3 articles · Updated · The Independent · Oct 22
Summary
A Time essay published Tuesday has Cohen arguing Ali G’s being “outdated and problematic” is precisely why he revived the character for Ali G: Who Iz I?, due in cinemas later this week.
Cohen said the satire targets a “white imbecile” cultural appropriator and the establishment that takes him seriously, not the Black culture the character imitates.
He tied the comeback to a darker political climate, saying prejudice has “metastasized” through social media and AI, with rising misogyny, intolerance and political violence.
NewsCord earlier launched a cinema-boycott campaign against the film, saying 37,658 emails backed objections that Ali G and Cohen’s wider body of work have caused harm.
The sequel, filmed largely in secret and completed in July, marks Cohen’s directorial debut and arrives as he says the film should warn audiences ahead of the US midterms.
Will reviving a controversial 2000s character actually expose modern digital extremism, or accidentally fuel the online radicalization it aims to mock?
Can a satirical comedy effectively dismantle the invisible threats of algorithmic bias that are currently radicalizing youth in modern gaming spaces?