Ali G Is Back and the Boycott Campaign Might Be the Best Marketing He's Ever Had

Sacha Baron Cohen is reviving Ali G for a new film,“Ali G: Who Iz I?”, and the reaction has been anything but quiet. Tens of thousands of emails are reportedly urging theaters to refuse to screen it, with critics arguing the character was built on offensive racial stereotypes. It’s a full-blown campaign against a movie most people haven’t even seen yet.

But not everyone is buying the sincerity. BlazeTV hosts Stu Burguiere and Dave Landau think the backlash smells like a stunt, the kind that turns a controversy into a ticket line. Landau’s take? The character isn’t racist, it’s just dated. After 20 years, everyone knows the joke, including the people Cohen is pranking, and he pointed out that Borat’s most offensive material targeted Jewish people without sparking anything close to this.

So here’s the real question: can a boycott accidentally become the best marketing a comedy could ask for? Every angry email, every trending hashtag, every debate about whether it’s racist or just old, all of it puts the movie in front of more eyeballs. Theaters aren’t exactly immune to free publicity either. Would you still go see it, or does the backlash change your mind? Let us know.