Sacha Baron Cohen is confronting a boycott of his forthcoming Ali G film after critics called it racist. A United Kingdom watchdog that uses artificial intelligence to monitor media bias has urged its members to send 37,000 emails to cinemas worldwide asking them not to book the picture. In 2000 a Black British comedian said the character served as cover for racism, author Jeanette Winterson likened it to minstrel entertainment, and Kazakh and Arab groups recorded harm from related material. Sony Pictures UK is promoting the release, and the campaign stresses that theater chains choose what they screen.

Cohen has previously pressed large technology firms to remove falsehoods from their platforms, demanded in 2021 that then-president Donald Trump be barred from social media for good, and welcomed that ban.