Amid outcries of racism, a weekend screening of censorship advocate Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat was canceled.
As Breitbart News reported Monday, the English actor is facing accusations of racism, and with those accusations, increased demands that his new Ali G movie (set for an October release) not be screened in theaters due to the claim that the Ali G character legitimizes anti-black stereotypes.
On Monday, Breitbart News also detailed Cohen’s extensive, vocal, and staunch support for censoring speech, including speech considered racist:
This is not about limiting anyone’s free speech. This is about giving people, including some of the most reprehensible people on earth, the biggest platform in history to reach a third of the planet. Freedom of speech is not freedom of reach. Sadly, there will always be racists, misogynists, anti-Semites, and child abusers. But I think we could all agree that we should not be giving bigots and pedophiles a free platform to amplify their views and target their victims.
It looks as though the one thing this disgraceful censorship advocate never contemplated was that one day those words would turn around and be used against him. And now, because Cohen has demanded that “racism” be censored, he finds himself with no principle to stand on, and no argument in favor of free speech or artistic freedom to make on his own behalf.
Sacha Baron Cohen – Ali G courtesy of Four by Two Films/Amazon MGM Studios
After all, many people see his Ali G character as racist. Therefore, according to Cohen’s stated standards, he should not have access to “the biggest platform in history.“ I ask you, is there a larger platform than having your movie distributed in thousands of theaters all over the world and then made available on Amazon Prime?
Hey, no one is taking away his free speech, right? Or as Cohen put it, “Freedom of speech is not freedom of reach.”
And now, the racism allegations are hitting Cohen’s 2006 feature Borat.
“This past Saturday, Vidiots was supposed to host a screening of ‘Borat,’ with producer Monica Levinson,” reports World of Reel. “There was supposed to be a packed house for the screening, and then it was just canceled. No announcement. The event was quietly deleted from the website — not even a postponement.”
“Before the screening was supposed to take place, I’m told there was some uproar over the film being shown,” continues the report. “The complaints ranged from Cohen being a ‘Zionist’ to the character of Borat being a ‘racist’ caricature… One person close to the matter tells me ‘the activists won.’”
Cry me a river.
This is a perfect example of the fascist getting the fascism he voted for. In Cohen’s case, he’s getting a taste of what he spent years lobbying for.
This is precisely what authoritarians like Cohen fail to understand: Once you give people the power to censor “racism,” the next step is deciding what defines “racism,” and down goes Borat.
Well, I think I speak for all Normal People when I say… ha ha.