On 26 August, Sacha Baron Cohen and Sony Pictures showed off the new Ali G sequel. The response — it’s fair to say — has not been positive. And now, campaigners are asking cinemas to not show the film, with one UK chain already confirming the following:
Cohen is receiving backlash for three primary reasons. The first is that the character is basically just Cohen doing blackface:
When Ali G first came out, the joke was seemingly pastiching white guys who appropriated what they saw as Black culture in London.
Whether you bought that joke or not, it’s clearly worn thin to the point of being non-existent at this point, and as such people are understandably taking the character to be Cohen’s impression of Black people.
28 Comments
alekwithak@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 6d
LOL of all the reasons to boycott Sacha, I don't think 'Ali G being basically blackface" is one of them. Happy to listen to the affected demographic on this, but from the original show and movie it was clear he was a wigger and he made himself the butt of every joke. Unless that dynamic has been flipped for this newest movie then I don't see how it's blackface. I certainly agree they shouldn't screen it or give him any undue attention, but I can think of many better reasons for that than the one given.
hanrahan@slrpnk.net · 0 pts · 6d
or like Iggy Azalea, a minstrel that can't be ass'd to black up.
Would you like a poppadom ?
straight outta Romesh Ranganathan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPoO_mT3ZZU
banause@feddit.org · 2 pts · 5d
This comment is wild.
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social · -16 pts · 6d
... Bro believe it or not that's a slur, and you know which word I'm talking about if you think for one second about what it literally means.
Or, to put it another way, that's you trying to get away with a hard r and there's a damn good reason no one says it anymore even as a "criticism"
alekwithak@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 6d
George would like a word with you. .
But putting aside the fact that no tf it isn't, you cannot separate something from the context in which it originates. You don't get to revise history because you don't like a word that was used to make fun of white suburban kids who acted like black urban youth. Now if you want to tell me who that word is supposed to offend and why I'm all ears, or eyes, but I'm not gonna let you use a single word to invalidate me because you've got a victim complex.
Edit: Actually I'm not done. I've been thinking about this a bit more and what qualifies or does not qualify as a slur. I believe “Wigger” can certainly be characterized as a pejorative rather than a slur because it labels a voluntary pattern of cultural presentation or behavior, not an inherent or protected identity. It functions more like “poser” than a racial epithet: contemptuous, certainly, but directed at perceived conduct rather than ancestry. I guess I could see where you're coming from, though.
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social · -10 pts · 5d
Say, out loud, what that word means, dumbfuck.
alekwithak@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 5d
You're gonna call me a dumbfuck with the same breath. Let's set aside that I've already thoroughly refuted your insistence that it's a slur, words meaning and their etymology are separate. Further when you censor historically accurate pejoratives from being used in their proper historical context you allow for the revision of that history. If you care about these out groups as much as your ridiculous comments suggest, then you'd want their struggle preserved accurately, no? Furthermore when you dismiss the message for choice of word you discount good messages entirely and allow bad actors to sneak damaging messaging past just because they more carefully selected their words.
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social · -8 pts · 5d
Yes, because you're a dumb fucking bastard complaining that being called a dumb fucking bastard is a slur equivalent to calling someone a white n-word, a portmantaeu using both the n-word as an insult and implying they should be better than that because they're white. It's what the word literally means, and the fact all you little racist crackers used to say it twenty years ago is not a defense.
You
Dumb
Fucking
Racist
alekwithak@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 5d
Oh, now I'm a "cracker" too?
And I'm the "Dumb Fucking Racist?"
I get your point and met your point and tried to have a genuine discussion with you and you meet me in turn with ire and actual slurs. There goes any shred of credibility you might have had. Did you read I Have A Dream?
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social · -3 pts · 5d
Your "points" are entitled egoist nonsense whose only purpose is to avoid accepting that maybe you shouldn't be using a slur just because you LOVE saying it so much because your shallow, entitled racist ass doesn't have the capacity for self reflection or accepting that you might possibly have a character flaw you could work on by just not being such a tacky piece of shit about a worthless slur.
.world mother fuckers, lmao 🤣, unironically they're going to try to "take back porch monkeys" next
geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · -18 pts · 6d
This might be news but blackface also is a white person pretending to be a racist black stereotype.
Guess you're just so racist that you can't tell how racist Sasha Cohen is anymore. The successful normalization of racism. Brought to you by Ali G.
alekwithak@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 6d
Sorry, what? Ali G exists to poke fun of white brits appropriating black culture. I'm not a fan, but we have to call things what they are.
geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · -16 pts · 6d
And there it is
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 6d
It's not a black stereotype, it's a stereotype of a white person who appropriates black culture. It's not making fun of black culture itself.
geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · -13 pts · 6d
Just a guy imitating all the worst racist tropes of stereotypical racist black culture as right wing media pushes it. But he's white! So now he can wear a Jamaican outfit and talk with a Jamaican accent and do racist tropes... While being white!
And he's called Ali. A very white name!
By the way remind me how long it took them after the movie to announce the character is actually "white".
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 6d
A guy imitating a white person imitating racist black stereotypes. The joke isn't "Look at this ridiculous behavior which is representative of black people", the joke is "Look at this ridiculous white person imitating racist stereotypes". The punchline isn't black culture, the punchline is cringey white guys. Ali G is more often than not the butt of the joke.
geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · -9 pts · 5d
Is Ali a white name?
alekwithak@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 6d
Mhm, okay so are you black?
geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · -14 pts · 6d
The fact that you see whatever Ali G did as "black culture" instead of racist caricatures really tells it all.
alekwithak@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 6d
The fact that you make memes comparing Dolly Parton to Hitler should have been a heads up to me that just because someone can write that doesn't mean they're literate.
geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml · -16 pts · 6d
Looks like you're all out of arguments to defend your racism so time to go selective quote shopping. Unsurprising you're jumping on the first opportunity you see to defend more racism.
Malica@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 6d
Zionist that makes propaganda for Israel. Why do people need more reason than that?
Diddlydee@feddit.uk · 12 pts · 6d
Is it cos he is black tho?
RumorsOfLove@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 6d
I love fried chicken. Haha. No I'm not racist, its called Irony. I am a Sophisticated comic.
mannycalavera@feddit.uk · 5 pts · 6d
Oh cool I had no idea there was a new film out. Thanks.