Sacha Baron Cohen is standing firmly behind his decision to bring back Ali G. In a cover essay for Time magazine, he argued that his characters are “designed to expose” prejudice, Variety reported. The essay arrives as a boycott campaign against the comeback gathers steam just days before the film hits theaters.
Booyakasha, he’s back
After nearly two decades in retirement, the tracksuit-wearing, goatee-sporting interviewer is returning in a brand-new mockumentary called “Ali G: Who Iz I?” According to Deadline, the film comes from Amazon MGM Studios and opens in theaters on October 23, 2026.
Fans may have missed the production entirely, and that was the point. Deadline reported that the movie was shot in secret over the past year. The revival first surfaced in July 2026, and the title and release date were announced on July 22.
The project is also a career milestone. Variety reported that “Ali G: Who Iz I?” is Baron Cohen’s feature directorial debut, which means he’s now running the show both in front of and behind the camera.
The film had its premiere at the Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles on October 14, 2026, Rolling Stone reported. The press tour has been in full swing since then. CBS News’ “60 Minutes” aired a profile of Baron Cohen on October 18, according to Variety, giving the famously elusive performer a primetime platform ahead of opening weekend.
Why Ali G went away in the first place
For anyone who wasn’t watching late-night British TV around the turn of the millennium, a quick refresher. CBS News reported that Ali G debuted on Channel 4’s “The 11 O’Clock Show” in 1998. The character quickly became a full-blown UK cultural phenomenon, famous for interviews in which real public figures tried, often painfully, to keep up with his questions.
The joke depended on people not knowing it was a joke. By 2007, that was no longer possible. According to CBS News, Baron Cohen retired the character that year, saying Ali G had become too well known to trick people.
So the obvious question with this comeback is how a character who was too famous in 2007 works in 2026. The secret shoot hints at how seriously Baron Cohen took that challenge.
The boycott and the backlash
Not everyone is celebrating. Deadline reported that the revival has prompted a boycott campaign by UK watchdog site NewsCord, which argues that Ali G reinforces racist stereotypes. The group has urged cinemas worldwide not to screen the film. The campaign kicked off almost immediately after Amazon MGM Studios released the first trailer on August 25, 2026.
Critics of the character have long pointed to the way Ali G, a white performer, borrows heavily from Black British and urban culture for laughs. Those concerns have resurfaced loudly with this release.
BBC comedian Dane Baptiste is one of the most vocal critics. “After Black Lives Matter and the brief humanization of Black people and Black creatives, it seems very dubious that we are now regressing back, not just five years, but 25 years,” he said, according to Deadline.
Baptiste isn’t alone. BAFTA winner Mo Gilligan has also publicly criticized the revival for reinforcing racial stereotypes. When two respected Black British comedians push back on a comedy project, that carries real weight, and it has made the conversation around the film much bigger than a typical sequel debate.
Baron Cohen makes his case
Baron Cohen has chosen to respond with an essay rather than a quick soundbite. In his Time cover piece, dated October 20, 2026, he defended the revival as satire, writing that his characters are designed to expose prejudice, Variety reported.
That argument will sound familiar to anyone who followed his work as Borat and Brüno. Baron Cohen’s longtime position is that the target of the joke isn’t the character but the people who reveal their own biases while talking to him. Whether audiences accept that explanation for Ali G specifically is exactly what the current fight is about.
Of course, the man also can’t resist being Ali G. At the Los Angeles premiere, Variety asked him, in character, about the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. His answer turned into a comment about Sydney Sweeney, Variety reported, which added fresh fuel to the controversy. It was a reminder that a serious essay and a red carpet ambush can come from the same guy in the same week.
What happens next
“Ali G: Who Iz I?” opens in theaters on October 23, 2026, including its UK theatrical release on the same date. That puts the film’s home turf, and the place where the character was born, right at the center of the debate.
The big unknown is how cinemas respond to NewsCord’s call to skip the film, and whether the controversy keeps audiences away or sends curious viewers straight to the box office. Either way, Baron Cohen has made his position clear in print. Now moviegoers get to decide for themselves.
