Sacha Baron Cohen says Ali G returns because he is problematic

Sacha Baron Cohen brought back Ali G because the character is outdated and problematic.

That is his own explanation, set out in a cover essay for Time published on 20 October 2026, according to Variety. The essay is titled "Sacha Baron Cohen on the Power of Satire," Time reports.

In the piece, Baron Cohen says he built his characters and his comedy as vehicles to expose prejudice, bias and stupidity. He argues the prejudices those creations were meant to skewer have since metastasised, fuelled by social media and artificial intelligence. That, he says, is why Ali G had to return.

For anyone meeting him fresh, Ali G is one of Baron Cohen's long-running alter egos, described by Reuters as a white English rapper. He was a zeitgeist figure of the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Guardian notes. His full name is Alistair Graham.

Baron Cohen does not soften the description. He calls Ali G a white imbecile and delusional cultural appropriator who borrows fashion and lyrics from gangsta rap and dancehall idols from Compton to Kingston. The joke, he says, has not changed. It is on Ali G himself, and on the predominantly white male establishment who take him seriously enough to believe a broadcaster such as HBO would hire him as an interview host.

The comeback centres on a satirical film titled "Ali G: Who Iz I?" Morgana Robinson plays Julie in the film. Baron Cohen discussed the project in an interview with The Guardian published on 18 October 2026.

He stayed in character for the premiere. Asked by Variety about the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, Ali G replied: "The only merger that's happening tonight is me and Sydney Sweeney's babylons."

For fans, this means a familiar face in a very different media landscape. Baron Cohen's other famous creations include Bruno and Borat. Ali G was first among them to put members of the public, and powerful interviewees, on the spot with a microphone and a wide grin.