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Sacha Baron Cohen
Sacha Baron Cohen, black-and-white portrait with a band of light across the eyes, Variety, December 2020.

Statements

What he has said, with the date, the source and a line of context. Newest first.

Antisemitism (1), Social media and democracy (3), The characters (5)

Antisemitism

Social media and democracy

  • TIME (op-ed by Sacha Baron Cohen)
    On speaking out in his own voice
    “A year ago, I spoke out publicly for the first time in my own voice because I feared that our pluralistic democracies were at risk of being destroyed by a flood of hate, lies and conspiracies spewed by demagogues and spread by social media.”

    Source: time.com

  • The Guardian (full transcript of his ADL keynote)
    On democracy, autocracy and shared truths
    “Democracy, which depends on shared truths, is in retreat, and autocracy, which depends on shared lies, is on the march.”

    Source: theguardian.com

  • The Guardian (full transcript of his ADL keynote)
    On social media companies and hate
    “All this hate and violence is being facilitated by a handful of internet companies that amount to the greatest propaganda machine in history.”

    Source: theguardian.com

The characters

  • Deadline
    On retiring Borat, at the Golden Globes
    “The gray suit is locked up and not coming out again.”

    Source: deadline.com

  • Variety
    On why he brought Borat back, and why he is done
    “I brought Borat out because of Trump. There was a purpose to this movie, and I don’t really see the purpose to doing it again. So yeah, he’s locked away in the cupboard.”

    Source: variety.com

  • The Irish Times (syndicated New York Times interview by Maureen Dowd)
    On what Borat was built to reveal
    “In 2005, you needed a character like Borat who was misogynist, racist, anti-Semitic to get people to reveal their inner prejudices. Now those inner prejudices are overt. Racists are proud of being racists.”

    Source: irishtimes.com

  • NPR, Fresh Air with Terry Gross
    On who Ali G's interviews were aimed at
    “If you look at the Ali G show and you look at generally the people who I interview, they tend to be white, wealthy, powerful males, you know, in positions of extreme influence.”

    Source: npr.org

  • Fresh Air, NPR
    On who Ali G is
    “The important thing about Ali G is that he's not black. And he is delusional, so he believes that he is a - you know, a black hip-hop artist from Staines, and you know, he believes that his neighborhood is a rough ghetto, when in fact it is this lovely, leafy middle-class suburb outside Windsor.”

    Source: npr.org