Mumbai: Sacha Baron Cohen defended his comedy and his controversial character Ali G in an essay for TIME magazine. The British comedian will play Ali G again in Ali G: Who Iz I?, a comedy film releasing on 23 October.
In the essay, Baron Cohen writes about the criticism his comedy has faced over the years, how he created his characters and why he believes satire is still important. He also talks about social media and AI, which he says have made it much easier for lies and conspiracy theories to spread.
The 55-year-old admitted that his jokes have sometimes offended people he wasn’t trying to make fun of. But he added that his intention was always to expose prejudice.
“I’ve always designed my characters and comedy as vehicles to expose prejudice, bias, and stupidity, though I realise not everyone sees them that way,” he wrote.
Baron Cohen created Ali G in 1998. The character is a white man from Staines, outside London, who thinks he’s a gangster and copies the clothes and mannerisms of Black American and Jamaican rappers. On Da Ali G Show (2000-2004), Baron Cohen interviewed politicians, academics and celebrities as Ali G, asking them out-of-the-box questions that they often answered seriously.
The character became popular, but also faced criticism for using racial stereotypes. Baron Cohen said Ali G wasn’t supposed to be making fun of Black culture, instead the joke was on the character and the people who took him seriously.
“The joke is on him, and on the predominantly white male establishment who take him seriously enough to believe that HBO would hire the stupidest man in the world as an interview host,” he added.
Baron Cohen also recalled one of his earliest performances as Borat, another character of his who first appeared in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006). At a fox-hunting rally in England, he played a man from Kazakhstan who asked whether Britain should hunt criminals, claiming that people did so in his country. To his surprise, the people at the rally agreed.
It was then that Baron Cohen realised people would believe his characters and say things they might never say in an ordinary interview.
He also wrote about why he decided to play Ali G again, even though the character has been called “outdated” and “offensive”.
“The fact that Ali G is outdated and problematic is the very reason I resurrected him.”
Baron Cohen said that the world has become worse since he first played Ali G. The prejudices he was making fun of then haven’t gone away. Instead, he believes social media and AI have helped make them more common.
“Twenty years ago, Ali G would sit next to world experts spouting absurdities. Today, fed a steady diet of disinformation and conspiracy theories by social media influencers and TikTok news, we have created an entire world where ignorance reigns, and truth is inverted,” the comedian said.
Baron Cohen also admitted that much of his humour is juvenile. But he thinks making people laugh is important if he wants them to think about what they’re watching.
“That’s because satire works best not when it preaches, but rather when it lives among the laughter. Then, once you walk out of the theatre or switch off the TV, it makes you think.”
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)