Sacha Baron Cohen, 53, is facing fresh backlash after reviving his Ali G character with a crude joke about Sydney Sweeney, 27, at the Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
The comedian made the remark during a red-carpet interview at the world premiere of Ali G: Who Iz I?, his first film featuring the character in over two decades. Asked about the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger, Cohen stayed in character and pivoted to the Euphoria actress instead.
“The only merger that’s happening tonight is me and Sydney Sweeney’s babylons,” he said, using the slang term for breasts that was part of Ali G’s vocabulary during the character’s early-2000s heyday.
The joke landed poorly with many viewers who saw clips circulate online afterward. “How did we find him funny?,” one social media user questioned. Another fired back directly at the premise: “Misogyny isnt a punchline.. Gross.”
Some critics framed the backlash as evidence that Ali G’s brand of comedy has failed to evolve. “I think the thing is… Conceptually the idea of a cosplaying cultural idiot is still applicable to today’s age but he’s done NOTHING to update it to today’s references,” one person wrote. “Makes it really stale. You can say that’s part of the joke but I think it’s a lazy defence.”
That sentiment was echoed by others who found the return itself puzzling. “So tedious & boring. Why is that character allowed to exist at all in 2026??,” another wrote.
The premiere marked the first major public appearance of Ali G since Cohen retired the character following the 2002 feature film Ali G Indahouse and the original Da Ali G Show run. The new film, Ali G: Who Iz I?, is scheduled for wide release on October 23.
Cohen created Ali G in the late 1990s for British television, building the character around a white suburban man who adopts exaggerated hip-hop mannerisms and conducts deliberately absurd interviews with unsuspecting public figures. The persona became a cultural phenomenon in the early 2000s, spawning the TV series and the 2002 movie before Cohen moved on to characters like Borat and Bruno.
Several online commenters predicted commercial trouble for the revival. “This film is out next week in the UK and not a single person is talking about it,” one wrote. “Maybe coz the joke ran dry 25 years ago.”
The Sydney Sweeney remark has intensified scrutiny of whether Ali G’s comedy, which relied heavily on racial and sexual provocation, can find an audience in 2026. Some defenders have argued that the character was always designed to satirize ignorance rather than endorse it, though that framing has done little to quiet the criticism following Wednesday’s premiere.
Cohen has not publicly addressed the backlash beyond his in-character appearance at the event.
Ali G: Who Iz I? Opens in UK cinemas next week ahead of its October 23 wide release.