{"id":829701,"date":"2026-08-29T11:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T11:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/829701\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T11:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T11:08:14","slug":"sacha-baron-cohens-new-ali-g-film-is-already-embroiled-in-controversy-with-calls-to-boycott-it-from-cinemas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/829701\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacha Baron Cohen\u2019s new Ali G film is already embroiled in controversy, with calls to boycott it from cinemas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sacha Baron Cohen<\/a>\u2019s revival of his character Ali G<\/a> has already sparked controversy in the U.K., where one theater chain has replied to a boycott campaign to say they have no plans to show his new movie<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Cohen released the trailer for an upcoming fly-in-the-wall documentary similar to Borat<\/a>. The new film, titled Ali G: Who Iz I?,<\/a> will be released by Amazon MGM and see Baron Cohen alongside unsuspecting members of the public while in character as Ali G.<\/p>\n

The character, who Baron Cohen originated in 1998, previously featured in a 2002 narrative feature film titled Ali G Indahouse.<\/p>\n

While some fans heralded his return, others believe the character to be outdated. The British news comparison site NewsCord launched a campaign calling on theaters to boycott the film, writing<\/a>: \u201cBlack British comedians called the character ‘an alibi for racism’ in 2000; Jeanette Winterson asked what separates it from the Black and White Minstrels; Kazakh and Arab organisations documented the harm of the catalogue behind it. Sony Pictures UK is selling it with the line \u2018He iz back. We ain’t liable.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cThe screens belong to the chains, and a booking is a choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SachaSacha Baron Cohen is back as Ali G in new film (Amazon MGM Studios)<\/p>\n

At the time of writing, the site claims that 37,658 emails have been sent in support of their campaign.<\/p>\n

They are already claiming victory after U.K. chain Picturehouse Cinemas, which operates 25 theaters, announced they will not be showing the film.<\/p>\n

In a statement to Metro<\/a>, Picturehouse said: \u201cWe currently do not have any plans to screen this film on its release.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around the time of his debut, comedians including Curtis Walker and Felix Dexter criticized Baron Cohen\u2019s creation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel a lot of the humour is laughing at Black street culture and it is being celebrated because it allowed the liberal middle classes to laugh at that culture in a safe context where they can retain their sense of political correctness,\u201d said Dexter of The Real McCoy comedy series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking about Ali G in a 2016 appearance on WTF With Marc Maron, Baron Cohen said he \u201ccouldn\u2019t really exist\u201d because he is so stupid, adding: \u201cPart of Ali G was an attempt, subtly, to slightly undermine the establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plot synopsis for the new film reads: \u201cAfter 20 years spent \u201cchillin\u2019, tokin\u2019 and bonin\u2019\u201d, Ali G is shocked to discover that his long-term girlfriend, Julie, is eight months pregnant. Faced with an extra mouth to feed, he gets off his batty and heads to America to reclaim his former glory\u2026 but soon encounters adversaries who will ultimately threaten his and his child\u2019s very existence.\u201d <\/p>\n

It is set to be released on October 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88],"class_list":["post-829701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}