Activists Email Cinema Chains to Block Sacha Baron Cohen Sequel

Pro-Palestine activists organized a digital campaign to pressure cinema chains in the United States and the United Kingdom to stop showing Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film, Ali G: Who Iz I? The movie entered limited theatrical release on Oct. 23, following a mixed critical reception and a streaming debut on Amazon Prime Video.

The campaign, led by a platform called NewsCord, claims to have sent approximately 55,000 emails to exhibitors. The group’s website provides users with templates generated by a specialized language model to mass-send complaints. NewsCord maintained a checklist directing users to contact specific chains, including Cineworld and Odeon in the U.K. and Landmark and Cinemark in the U.S.

NewsCord stated that the chain Picturehouse, based in London, informed the group it would not screen the film. The platform noted that Picturehouse was removed from its sending list because the chain met the campaign’s goal. On Oct. 23, NewsCord declared victory, citing Amazon’s limited exhibition plan, which the studio described as a stunt release.

The platform was incubated by Tech for Palestine, a nonprofit that describes its mission as cultivating projects to shut down genocidal speech. The organization has faced criticism from the Anti-Defamation League and Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies for its efforts to influence Wikipedia pages related to the conflict. In October 2024, Tech for Palestine founder Paul Biggar urged supporters to downvote reviews of four documentaries about the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.

Monica Levinson, an executive producer on the film who has worked with Cohen on Borat and Brüno, addressed the coordinated effort in a statement. She said the team expected some pushback for reviving the character but was disheartened by the focus on Cohen’s identity as a Jewish public figure. Levinson described the scale and coordination of the attacks as astounding.

Cohen, who played Mossad agent Eli Cohen in Netflix’s series The Spy, discussed the campaign during an interview before the release. He observed that much of the social media activity appeared orchestrated rather than driven by genuine belief. The comedian stated he was not surprised that prominent Jews were being targeted and noted that the level of organization was surprising but consistent with a trend of silencing Jewish voices.

The backlash began earlier in the year when the first trailer debuted on Aug. 25. British commentator Afua Hirsch criticized the character’s aesthetic and dialogue, arguing that the humor relied on outdated stereotypes. Cohen responded by reposting the trailer with a comment about playing it safe in an age of un-PC jokes. He also shared a clip of a character from his film who urged a boycott, listing five C’s including consulting community and obtaining consent before laughing.

NewsCord and Tech for Palestine did not respond to inquiries regarding the campaign. The film remains available on Amazon Prime Video and in limited theaters.