- Published
"This is the biggest gathering of cultural appropriators in history," Sacha Baron Cohen tells the camera in his parody of a street accent.
Behind him, hundreds of fans cram onto a London Underground escalator, all wearing Ali G's trademark yellow shell suit and skullcap.
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all → tell → suit
Baron Cohen shouts the character's catchphrases through a megaphone, with the crowd enthusiastically finishing each one.
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crowd → shout → one
Earlier this month, more than 300 fans attended an official Ali G lookalike competition, ferried around London on an open-top bus that stopped at landmarks including Big Ben, Leicester Square and Covent Garden.
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that → attend → Ben
The stunt was promotion for an upcoming sequel to 2002 film Ali G Indahouse - called Ali G: Who iz I? - which hits cinemas on Friday.
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which → call → Friday
Critics have long accused the actor of perpetuating racial stereotypes with Ali G, and criticism of the upcoming sequel has gained traction online, with social media posts from comedians, content creators and film fans attracting thousands of likes and comments.
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posts → accuse → likes
Among them is singer and presenter Jordan Stephens, who has posted multiple TikToks criticising the franchise's return.
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who → post → return
And last month, discussing the film's trailer on the Jeremy Vine show, Labour MP Paulette Hamilton called the character racist.
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Hamilton → discuss → character
She said she believed Baron Cohen would not get away with portraying any other racial group "in the way he has done with the black community".
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he → say → community
'Thought I'd play it safe'
Baron Cohen has not directly addressed criticism of the character's return, and did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.
However, he acknowledged an inevitable backlash when he first announced the sequel, writing on X: "In an age where a comedian's career can be ended by a single un-PC joke, I thought I'd play it safe and bring this guy back."
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I → think → guy
Recently, he shared a video, external posted to a newly created Instagram account, in which a grey-haired academic urged viewers to boycott the upcoming film.
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academic → share → film
The character appeared to be Baron Cohen in prosthetic makeup.
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character → appear → makeup
Has Ali G passed his sell-by date?
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G → pass → date
Or are racial stereotypes, and those who believe them, the true butt of the joke?
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who → believe → joke
Alternatively, as some critics argue, is the whole thing simply not very funny?
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thing → argue → ?
The character of Ali G rose to fame through a series of deadpan TV interviews with figures including Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed and the Beckhams, from which catchphrases such as "Booyakasha" and "Is it because I is black?" entered popular culture.
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I → rise → culture
But some critics say these catchphrases have since been appropriated by others in a real-life context to mock black people and dismiss their concerns.
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catchphrases → say → concerns
Comedian Dane Baptiste, the first black British comic nominated for an Edinburgh Comedy Award, remembers hearing Ali G catchphrases everywhere during the character's noughties heyday.
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Baptiste → nominate → heyday
"A lot of the time, I would hear people using phrases like 'Is it because I is black?' or 'Booyakasha'," he recalls.
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he → hear → phrases
"Even taking the phrase 'Is it because I is black?'... that was used to the point of caricature, whereby, whenever black people experienced actual grievances relating to systemic and institutional racism, it was reduced to this catchphrase."
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it → take → catchphrase
Baptiste believes the character, which he calls a "black caricature", is returning at a time when black creatives are being "starved of opportunities".
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creatives → believe → opportunities
When the Ali G Indahouse movie was released in 2002, protesters gathered at its Leicester Square premiere and organiser Peter Akinti branded the character the "new Al Jolson", a 1920s entertainer who used to perform in blackface.
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who → release → blackface
Little is known about the plot of the Ali G sequel beyond the character discovering his girlfriend Julie is pregnant and travelling to America to interview a slew of unsuspecting real-world participants, including American physicist Alan Lightman and retired Army General C Stewart Rodeheaver, who appears in the film's trailer.
When Ali G first arrived on our screens, characters like him were far more common, says social psychologist Amy Kean.
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Kean → know → him
She argues they are no longer "culturally relevant".
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they → argue → ?
"Ali G, Little Britain, Catherine Tate, all of those comedians and sketch shows, they made the voice the joke," says Kean, who has written on accentism, drawing from her experiences being teased for her Essex accent.
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who → make → accent
"I remember going to school in the 90s and people would take the piss out of anyone whose voice wasn't exactly the same as everyone else's."
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voice → remember → everyone
Baron Cohen has in the past suggested that his character had a knack for pushing powerful interviewees into uncomfortable territory by playing with biases and expectations.
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character → suggest → biases
Speaking on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2020, Baron Cohen reflected on interviewing Donald Trump for Da Ali G Show, and recalled how the programme's producer was a well-spoken Englishman who Trump had assumed would be conducting the interview.
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Trump → speak → interview
"I remember Donald Trump looking at me, and I'm wearing a sweatsuit," Baron Cohen said.
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Cohen → remember → sweatsuit
"His face dropped.
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face → drop → ?
He was immediately furious that he was going to have to speak to somebody from a lower-class borough rather than this rather astute Etonian producer."
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he → go → borough
Writing for Time magazine in 2020, Baron Cohen said: "By getting people to reveal what they really believe, I have at times exposed the ignorance, bigotry and conspiratorial delusions that often lurk just below the surface of our modern lives."
Yet, when discussing the upcoming sequel on CBS on Tuesday, Baron Cohen's "primary objective" appeared less ideological - to "get people to laugh really hard".
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people → write → Tuesday
Though he added that "smuggled in there is a bit of satire".
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smuggled → add → satire
The actor is no stranger to putting himself in potentially dangerous situations for his comedy.
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actor → put → comedy
In a previous film, he infiltrated a gun rally, disguised as a "right-wing singer", while secretly wearing a bulletproof vest.
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he → infiltrate → vest
Once members of the crowd realised they were being mocked, Baron Cohen was escorted into a getaway vehicle as an angry crowd "started pounding on the vehicle with their fists".
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crowd → realise → fists
He told CBS he wanted to examine "conspiracies and lies" and test whether "we, in a matter of hours, could turn intelligent people who believed in the theory of race replacement into murderers".
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who → tell → murderers
Colton Dunn, one of the film's black writers, questioned why Baron Cohen would put himself in danger, where interview subjects might react violently, if his intentions were racist.
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intentions → question → danger
Ali G is a tool to expose racists," Dunn told Deadline.
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Dunn → expose → Deadline
"That's why I signed on.
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I → sign → ?
I wouldn't sign on to work with somebody that I thought was racist, that's against everything that I've done," he added.
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he → sign → that
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
