That new Ali G trailer isn't being received very well in the U.K.
Sacha Baron Cohen's new comedy for Amazon is being met with calls for a boycott.
Life offers many certainties, among them water freezing at zero, an inevitable end, and constant forward motion of time. Yet, one inevitability stands out: each new Sacha Baron Cohen film will meet with protest calls. This latest endeavor, his 54-year-old character dusted off for Ali G: Who Iz I?, is sparking resistance in the United Kingdom.
A campaign led by AI-powered media watchdog NewsCord urges cinema chains worldwide to refuse screening the film. According to Variety, NewsCord has sent over 36,000 emails to worldwide cinema chains advocating for the boycott.
The trailer for the film, shown on Amazon on a Tuesday, has stirred discontent among social media users. Their grievances range from Cohen’s use of a dreadlock wig under a Rastafarian hat to broader concerns. NewsCord’s campaign references the persistent criticism from Black British comedians who argue that Cohen's lampooning of white culture appropriating Black culture is a form of racism.
Additionally, NewsCord cites English author Jeanette Winterson’s 2003 BBC interview where she expressed her distaste for Cohen’s act, stating she felt like she was "looking into the void" and couldn’t comprehend what sets him apart from Black and white minstrels.
Recent critiques, such as Afua Hirsch’s, a British broadcaster and author of the 2018 book Brit(ish), argue that Cohen’s brand of racial humor is out of step with current Black trends. Hirsch writes, "Black people don’t dress like that anymore. Even white people imitating Black people don’t talk like that anymore." She continues, "Sexualizing Black women and casually mocking working class women is not accepted anymore… Baron Cohen’s so-called ‘humor’ is a crude compound of all these things."
Variety is awaiting a response from Cohen, who likely anticipated this backlash. In a post discussing the trailer, he said, "In an age when a single comedian's career can be ended by a single un-PC joke, I thought I’d play it safe and bring this guy back." NewsCord, however, has already received a response from U.K.-based Picturehouse Cinemas, though Variety notes that this independent foreign cinema chain likely never planned to screen Ali G: Who Iz I? in the first place.
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