Sacha Baron Cohen has found a peculiar way to promote his return as Ali G: telling fans to pirate his new movie. The comedian’s latest video treats depriving his own film of ticket sales as an act of public generosity.
The 18-second message appeared on the character’s official X account on October 23. Wearing an orange puffer jacket, yellow hat and tinted glasses, Cohen delivered his pitch directly to the camera while standing outdoors.
Ali G: Who Iz I? opened in U.S. theaters that day, with Amazon MGM Studios advertising the engagement as “one weekend only.” Cohen also writes and produces the comedy, which marks his feature directorial debut.
The release follows a campaign asking cinemas to reject the film. NewsCord has accused the character of perpetuating racial stereotypes, making the revival a subject of debate before audiences could see the finished movie.
Ali G Offers a YouTube Plan for Avoiding Ticket Prices
stop readin start listenin pic.twitter.com/LDHg9rvurO
— Ali G (@OfficialAli_G) October 23, 2026
Ali G gets straight to his request. “So get down there and film it and stick it up on YouTube so no one else has to buy a ticket,” he says in the clip, transcribed by ComingSoon.
His justification is simple: “Sharing is caring.” The suggestion is delivered as part of the fictional character’s promotional performance.
Borat’s Mock Boycott Came First
Amazon MGM’s second trailer, released October 9, recruited another Cohen creation to argue against buying tickets. Appearing as Borat Sagdiyev, the comedian announced that he had investigated complaints about the film and reached a disappointing conclusion: “There have been reportings that this film is racist. We have seen it, and sadly it is not.”
Borat then claimed that Kazakhstan would refuse to show the movie in either of its two cinemas and urged viewers elsewhere to join the boycott. The supposed national ban was part of his fictional speech. The trailer itself came from the studio distributing the film.
A day earlier, Cohen had posted an Instagram video wearing prosthetic makeup as a balding activist representing the fictional Campaign for Ethical Comedy. That character complained that Cohen couldn’t invent anyone new and instructed viewers to boycott. His rules for audiences included consulting the community and obtaining consent before laughing.
A New Trip to America Starts With Julie’s Pregnancy
In the movie, Ali G discovers that his longtime girlfriend Julie, played by Morgana Robinson, is eight months pregnant. Faced with supporting a child, he heads to the United States hoping to recover his former fame. The story mixes its fictional premise with encounters involving real people.
It is the first feature centered on Ali G since 2002’s Ali G Indahouse. As Variety reported, Cohen filmed the new project secretly. The character originally appeared on Britain’s The 11 O’Clock Show in 1998 before graduating to Da Ali G Show, where his confused interviews put politicians and other public figures on the spot.
Cohen Has Also Answered the Criticism Out of Character
Among those challenging the revival is writer Afua Hirsch. In an August 27 essay, she criticized Ali G as a caricature of Black people and objected to the way Da Ali G Show presented Black women as sexualized accessories.
Cohen offered his own explanation in an October 20 essay for TIME. He described Ali G as a white cultural appropriator whose foolishness also exposes the biases of establishment figures willing to take him seriously.
“The joke is on him,” Cohen wrote, while acknowledging that his satire has offended people beyond its intended targets. He told 60 Minutes that he wanted the film to examine how conspiracies and lies influence people.