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An AI assisted letter writing campaign attempting to pressurise cinemas into not showing the latest Sacha Baron Cohen film
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4th October 2026
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See article from dailymail.com
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Ali G: Who Iz I? is a 2026 UK/US comedy by Sacha Baron Cohen Starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Morgana Robinson and Stewart Rodeheaver
Hip-hop journalist Ali G returns after 20 years to make a documentary with real people. Cameras follow him for over a year as he takes classes, walks the streets, and appears on shows, often with his pregnant
girlfriend. The Daily Mail has reported on an AI assisted campaign trying to prevent Ali G: Who Iz I? from being shown at cinemas. Ali G is returning to cinemas in October following a 20-year hiatus during which, as Ali G puts
it, the world went to crap. In the hours that following the release of the movie trailer, a most peculiar series of events played out. It involved a short-lived but apparently extremely high-profile campaign to have Ali G: Who Iz I? banned from
worldwide cinemas. This campaign claimed that the entire film, along with its central character, is somehow racist. Out of nowhere, people who appeared to be offended by Baron Cohens trailer had launched a letter-writing campaign. Before long,
more than 50,000 messages were sent to cinema chains, calling for the film to be blacklisted. The social media accounts of firms such as Odeon were similarly bombarded. Each of 50,000 complaint emails was different. Some were written in the local
language, they had a variety of subject lines and, while none were exactly the same length, many were extremely detailed. The attempt to cancel Baron Cohen was in fact a highly organised Ai assisted campaign. It was also very well financed. The
campaign was apparently orchestrated via an internet platform named NewsCord, which devotes most of its resources to opposing Israel. A NewsCord user wishing to join the campaign against Sacha Baron Cohen needs only to enter their own email address in a
box. The website will then create 20 unique complaint AI assisted emails in their name and send them out to cinema chains and the BBFC.
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Campaigners hype new movie Ali G: Who iz I?
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31st August 2026
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See article from
dailymail.com
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Ali G: Who Iz I? is a 2026 UK/US comedy by Sacha Baron Cohen Starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Morgana Robinson and Stewart Rodeheaver
Hip-hop journalist Ali G returns after 20 years to make a documentary with real people. Cameras follow him for over a year as he takes classes, walks the streets, and appears on shows, often with his
pregnant girlfriend.
It's been a while since anybody has called for a movie to be banned in UK cinemas but an obscure group is campaigning against Ali G: Who iz I? claiming that it is enforcing racist stereotypes. The
Amazon MGM film is due for release in cinemas on October 23. Baron Cohen released the first trailer for Ali G: Who Iz I? last week, marking his return to the satirical character after a 20-year absence. The actor, in his directorial debut, filmed
the movie secretly over the course of a year with the mockumentary following his character's life since the world went to crap, alongside his pregnant girlfriend, played by Morgana Robinson. A day after the trailer's release, NewsCord, a UK news
comparison and media monitoring platform, started a campaign urging cinemas around the world to refuse to screen the film. The campaign group have said they have emailed 15 major chains globally. As of Sunday, the campaigners claim they have been
instructed to send 41,000 emails on behalf of its website readers. The campaign group said: Ali G is a cover to laugh at Jamaican culture. The character enforces harmful stereotypes of how a Jamaican man behaves in
society. Ali G smokes weed, is a misogynist, and does nothing meaningful in life. He does this because he thinks this is what a Jamaican does. The world laughs at Ali G. But the real butt of the joke are
Black people and specifically Jamaicans, they added. This is evident in a number of Baron Cohen's films, where a race or religion is the victim of the "joke". Phil Clapp, head of the UK Cinema Association, told Variety in
response to the campaign: Cinemas are there to engage and entertain the widest possible audience. They are not there to act as censors or arbiters of public taste. So where a film has been given a
certificate by the BBFC, they will decide whether or not to play it solely with the likely response of their audience in mind.
A defiant Baron Cohen himself also addressed the growing backlash, writing on X:
In an age where a comedian's career can be ended by a single un-PC joke, I thought I'd play it safe and bring this guy back.
Comment: The Ali G haters are the dumbest people alive 1st September 2026. See article from spiked-online.com by
Brendan O'Neill
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Human Centipede 2 has been banned again by the Australian Censorship Board
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23rd August 2026
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See refused-classification.com
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The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) is a 2011 Netherlands/UK horror by Tom Six. With Laurence R Harvey and Ashlynn Yennie.
Famously banned in the UK for 2011 DVD but later passed 18 after heavy cuts. Also temporarily banned in Australia before later being passed R18+ with cuts. An uncut version was again banned in 2026. In June 2026, Umbrella
Entertainment announced an uncensored 4K UHD Collector's Edition of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE TRILOGY would be released on 22 October. In July, the uncut version was awarded an R18+ (High impact themes, blood and gore, violence, sexual violence, nudity and
sex scenes) as an Accredited Classifier Decision. The Classification Board are able to revoke and overturn a decision made by a classification tool or accredited classifier if it believed it would have determined a different rating or the consumer
advice was misleading, incorrect or grossly inadequate. This is what has now occurred, with the R18+ being replaced by an RC on 21 August. It is the first time a film has been banned in such a way since the March 2024 introduction of Accredited
Classifier system. A cut version was released in the US Unrated by the MPAA. Later it was released in the uncut version which is now cheekily tagged as the Director's Cut, still MPAA Unrated. The film was also banned in New Zealand.
Summary Review: Sick Fantasy Inspired by the fictional Dr. Heiter, disturbed loner Martin dreams of creating a 12-person centipede and sets out to realize his sick fantasy. This is the
type of movie you will either like or hate, I doubt there will be much in between. The film is quite shocking, but not the most outrageous of the genre. Actor Laurence R Harvey is masterful as Martin yet doesn't utter a single
word of dialogue.
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The latest cinema release suffering BBFC category cuts
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21st August 2026
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Thanks to Darren
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The End of Oak Street is a 2026 US/Canada/Australia action mystery thriller by David Robert Mitchell Starring Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor and Maisy Stella
BBFC category cuts were required for a 12A rated cinema release in 2026. The subsequent UK Blu-ray is uncut and BBFC 15 rated. Summary Notes The Platt
family bands together to navigate their new surroundings after a cosmic event transports their suburban neighborhood to someplace unknown.
Versions
uncut
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UK: Uncut and BBFC 15 rated for strong injury detail, threat:
- 2026 Elevation Sales Blu-ray (rated 21/08/2026)
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cut:
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run:
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99:12s
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pal:
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95:14s
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UK: BBFC 12A rated for moderate threat, violence, injury detail, infrequent strong language for moderate threat, violence, injury detail, infrequent strong language after BBFC cuts:
- 2026 Warner Bros Entertainment UK cinema release (rated 04/08/2026)
The BBFC commented: The distributor chose to make cuts to remove strong injury detail in order to achieve their requested 12A rating.. An uncut 15 classification was available.
Darren comments:
Cuts include details of an old lady having her throat ripped out and a man having his whole leg ripped off.
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