A campaign to prevent Sacha Baron Cohen’s forthcoming mockumentary “Ali G: Who Iz I?” from reaching British cinemas has gathered significant momentum this week.
More than 36,000 emails were dispatched to major cinema chains urging them to refuse to show the film.
NewsCord, a news comparison and media monitoring platform, launched the drive on Wednesday after the trailer for the Amazon MGM production sparked widespread anger on social media.
The platform has been sending emails to exhibitors on behalf of individuals who sign up to the campaign.
Sacha Baron Cohen is set to reprise his controversial Ali G character in a new mockumentary
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Numerous critics have branded Mr Cohen’s iconic character, who appears in the trailer sporting fake dreadlocks and a Rastafarian hat, an “outdated” and “racist” caricature, with many arguing that the satirical figure’s return is deeply inappropriate for the current era.
The campaign accuses Mr Cohen of deploying satire as a “cover for enforcing racist stereotypes,” drawing on criticisms that have followed the character since his earliest days on Channel 4’s “The 11 O’Clock Show” in 1998.
As far back as 2000, the comedian Felix Dexter argued 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”.
Author Jeanette Winterson went further, stating: “I don’t know what the difference is between him and the Black and White Minstrels.”
Mr Cohen has faced renewed criticism over his decision to bring back the divisive character
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Those sentiments have found fresh resonance 26 years on.
In a recent Substack post, writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch contended that the character is entirely out of step with contemporary Britain.
“Baron Cohen’s so-called ‘humour’ is a crude compound of all these things,” she wrote, arguing that the stereotypes Ali G trades in are no longer culturally acceptable.
Despite claims circulating in the British press that the campaign had already secured a significant win, reports that Picturehouse Cinemas had committed to boycotting the film are inaccurate.
NewsCord published a response from the chain stating, “We currently do not have any plans to screen this film on its release,” presenting this as confirmation that Picturehouse would not show the title.
In reality, this is said to be merely a routine customer service reply issued whenever a film has not yet been booked and does not appear on the exhibitor’s schedule.
No decision had actually been taken regarding “Ali G: Who Iz I?”
Phil Clapp, who leads the UK Cinema Association, pushed back firmly against the notion that exhibitors should block certified films from their screens.
“Cinemas are there to engage and entertain the widest possible audience.
“They are not there to act as censors or arbiters of public taste,” he told Variety.
Picturehouse Cinemas said it currently has no plans to screen the forthcoming film
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He added that once a film has received its BBFC certificate, venues will base their screening decisions purely on anticipated audience demand.
Mr Cohen himself appears to have foreseen at least some degree of controversy.
In a post accompanying the trailer, he quipped: “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.”