Is This Real Reason Why Sacha Baron Cohen Is Being Cancelled?

It’s hard to feel bad for Sacha Baron Cohen these days.

The mind behind “Borat” has been pushing free speech restrictions for some time. He infamously demanded that President Donald Trump be banned from social media following the Jan. 6 riots.

So when his upcoming film, “Ali G: Who Iz I?” faced a Cancel Culture-style attack last week, it felt like a heaping pile of Karma coming his way.

.@NolteNC writes: Sacha Baron Cohen “has no place to hide” as his Ali G revival gets attacked.

“He certainly can’t defend himself on the principle of artistic freedom and free speech when he has repeatedly disgraced himself with calls to censor speech.” https://t.co/1i1tAbtUPR

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) August 31, 2026

The film still shouldn’t be censored, of course. We can acknowledge the hypocrisy while defending his right to speak. Maybe he’ll learn something from this episode.

Except the cancellation attacks aren’t restricted to “Ali Gi: Who Iz I?”

World of Reel reports that a screening of Cohen’s breakthrough comedy, 2006’s “Borat,” just got quietly shelved.

The L.A.-based Vidiots had scheduled a “Borat” screening, complete with the film’s producer (Monica Levinson) and the designer who crated the character’s unusual swimsuit for the film – Jason Alper.

It’s a typical event for modern theaters, a nostalgia blast with some of the creators of the film in attendance or related merchandise.

TohoScope returns! Our monthly screening series with Toho Studios stomps into May with GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH. Equal parts eco-horror and psychedelic meltdown, it pits Godzilla against a smog-born nightmare that only gets stronger the filthier things get.

Tickets are on sale now,… pic.twitter.com/0I5ddIoS3B

— Alamo Drafthouse (@alamodrafthouse) April 14, 2026

The “Borat” screening’s pre-sales appeared robust, but the event was cancelled without fanfare. An Instagram post teasing the screening was removed by the nonprofit film group.

Here’s where the cancellation gets scary.

WOR says some complained about the “racist” nature of the film’s main character, a buffoonish reporter from  Kazakhstan. Others raged that Cohen is a “zionist.” The actor is Jewish.

One person close to the matter tells me “the activists won.”

Again.

Jewish artists have suffered steady cancellations since the Oct. 7 atrocities.

• Michael Rapaport
• Alyssa Rosenheck
• Brett Gelman
• Matisyahu

An Australian filmmaker just created a new film documenting similar punishments for that country’s Jewish artists. It’s having trouble getting screened in festivals or elsewhere.

Now, this.

The pro-Palestinian Left may be using Cancel Culture cover to prevent Cohen’s latest from being seen. It could still come down to the actor’s heritage, not any gags told in the past or present.

Cohen brought Borat back via the 2020 film “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.” That year was Peak Woke on many levels, but only a few voices attempted to censor the film.

They gained little traction.

What changed?

Antisemitism did. It flared up following Oct. 7 and continues apace. It’s increasingly common for far-Left activists to use a person’s Jewish faith against them.

Just ask Jerry Seinfeld.

Democrats are mainstreaming anti-Israel voices, with the line between that position and antisemitism growing increasingly thin.

Michigan’s Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel urged a private gathering of Jewish Democrats to place the needs of “the rest of humanity” above their own “safety and security.”

It’s also being fueled by pundits like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson, formerly on the Right. 

Why else would a 20-year-old movie face a Cancel Culture-style attack out of the blue? If only Cohen himself could have seen this coming.