Ali G is back. I really wish he wasn’t | Arwa Mahdawi

Back in the day, he was funny. But that day was 24 years ago – and the character sits uncomfortably in a post-shame world

Have we not suffered enough? The US is currently in the throes of a parasite-induced watery diarrhoea outbreak while being governed by a mad king suffering from a horrible case of logorrhea. Meanwhile, on both sides of the Atlantic the temperature is about a million degrees and the world is experiencing a “Godzilla” El Niño. Thanks to the extreme weather and the Iran war, global food prices are about to rocket. Everything is going to hell, basically. And now, to top it all off, we’ve just had the news that we’re getting an Ali G reboot.

I iz being deadly serious here. News broke last week that Sacha Baron Cohen has finished secretly filming a new Ali G movie – 24 years after the character, a satirical take on privileged suburban kids appropriating black street culture, was last seen on the big screen. Baron Cohen then showed up at Wimbledon over the weekend in character, posting an Instagram proclaiming: “I iz Back!”