Cohen has previously defended the character as being a satirical representation of how privileged youth see Black people.
ByJade Gomez
August 29, 2026
Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming mockumentary Ali G: Who Iz I? is receiving major pushback due to accusations that the character has always been a racist caricature of Black British and Jamaican culture.
Media monitoring platform NewsCord launched the effort on Wednesday, Aug. 26, emailing major cinema chains on behalf of anyone who registers with the campaign, with users being able to choose whether they want to email theaters in the UK, US, or Canada combined with British, Australian, and Middle Eastern chains. As of publishing time, NewsCord claimed to have sent more than 37,000 emails to chains worldwide on behalf of concerned moviegoers. U.K. theater targets include Odeon, Cineworld, Vue, Everyman and Showcase.
The campaign accuses Cohen of hiding behind satire as “cover for enforcing racist stereotypes” and takes direct aim at Sony Pictures UK’s marketing tagline for the film: “He iz back. We ain’t liable.” NewsCord’s campaign page counters: “The screens belong to the chains, and a booking is a choice.”
The backlash intensified after the film’s trailer dropped earlier this week, showing Ali G in fake dreadlocks and a Rastafarian hat and joking about wanting to be an “absent” father. Social media critics called the character “outdated” and “racist,” with one X user writing: “Ali G, for decades, has been a racist caricature of black Jamaican, British, and American culture through the voice of a white comedian from England. Are you just noticing this now?”
British writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch went further in a Substack post, writing: “Black people don’t dress like that anymore. Even white people imitating Black people don’t talk like that anymore. 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.”
The criticism is not new. NewsCord’s campaign points to a 2000 newspaper report in which Black British comedians argued the character served as an “alibi for racism.” Comedian Felix Dexter wrote at the time that Ali G “allows the liberal middle classes to laugh at Black street culture in a context where they can retain their sense of political correctness.”
Cohen, whose film also marks his directorial debut, appeared unbothered on X, posting alongside the trailer: “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.” NBA star Kevin Durant posted on Instagram: “My brother Sacha Baron Cohen is back. Let’s go.” A$AP Rocky is also among those who have voiced support online.
The campaign alleges that U.K.-based theater Picturehouse Cinemas confirmed it would not screen the film. Variety reports that the email in question was a standard response to unbooked release queries, not a decision against screening the film, as the theater focuses on art films. Danish chain NFBIO pushed back on the campaign directly, stating: “We do not consider it our task as a cinema to exercise censorship or to reject films that are legally distributed and aimed at an adult audience.”
Cohen’s Ali G was first introduced in 1998 as a flashy character speaking in rude boy-style English. Ali G gained popularity for conducting street interviews, with the person often being unaware they were being set up. Cohen has said the character is a satirical representation of how privileged suburban youth think Black people act, although critics argue Ali G is based on harmful stereotypes.
Ali G: Who Iz I? opens Oct. 23, distributed by Amazon MGM Studios in the U.S. and Sony Pictures internationally.
