Sacha Baron Cohen has enlisted one of his other most famous characters to downplay racism concerns regarding his upcoming sequel, “Ali G: Who Iz I?”
In the second trailer out Friday, the comedian brings back Borat to more or less set up the plot of the new film — complete with callback references to Kazakhstan, fake documentaries and, of course, his wife. The response comes after U.K. watchdog activists urged theaters not to screen the social satire.
“There have been reportings that this film is racist. We have seen it, and sadly, it is not,” Borat says before teasing some of the other returning identities Cohen assumes in order to shoot in secret, as he did with “Who Is America?”
“After twenty years spent ‘chillin’, tokin’ and bonin’,’ Ali G is shocked to discover that his long-term girlfriend, Julie, is eight months pregnant,” per the logline. “Faced with an extra mouth to feed, he gets off his batty and heads to America to reclaim his former glory… but soon encounters adversaries who will ultimately threaten his and his child’s very existence.”
Morgana Robinson takes over the role as Julie, who originally appeared in Cohen’s 2002 “Ali G Indahouse.” Borat Sagdiyev, meanwhile, has popped up in “Borat’s Television Programme,” “Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” and “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.”
This new movie continues Cohen’s relationship with Amazon MGM, with Four by Two Films and Working Title Films producing.
“Ali G: Who Iz I?” finds itself in theaters for one weekend only on Oct. 23.
