Is Sacha Baron Cohen a racist ?

He isn't racist. He has joked about Jews plenty of times (using stereotypes) yet he is the Grandson of one who was in the holocaust. I don't see him as a racist. I see him as a comedian (which he is!) who plays on general stereotypes regarding his chosen character.

I've called thick, stupid, and other nice names in this thread, thanks.

By the way I love satire comedy especially non-politically correct humor, but common now,
a non Arab, non Muslim who often seems to target them???

Ali G (Muslim name)
Borat(Islam is the largest religion in Kazakhstan)
The Dictator ( Arab dictator)

In France there is an amazing comedian(black man) who decided to make a sketch as
an Israeli settler. And since then ...

Court convictions

On June 14, 2006 Dieudonné was sentenced to a penalty of 4,500 Euro for defamation after having called a prominent Jewish television presenter a "secret donor of the child-murdering Israeli army".[52]

On November 15, 2007, an appellate court convicted him to a 5,000 Euro fine because he had treated "the Jews" as "slave traders" after being attacked in his theater le Théâtre de la Main d'Or.[53]

On 26 June 2008, he was sentenced in the last judicial instance to a 7,000 Euro fine for his designation of the media exploitation of the Holocaust as "memorial pornography".[54]

On 27 February 2009 he was fined 75,000 Canadian dollars in Montreal for defamatory statements with anti-semitic undertones against the singer and actor Patrick Bruel.[55]

On 26 March 2009 Dieudonné was sentenced to a total of 3,000 Euros for defamation after having criticised Elisabeth Schemla, a Jewish journalist who ran the now defunct Proche-Orient.Info website. He declared on 31 May 2005 that the website wanted to "eradicate Dieudonné from the audiovisual landscape" and had said of him that "he's an anti-semite, he's the son of Hitler, he will exterminate everyone".[56]

On 27 October 2009, he was sentenced to a fine of 10,000 Euros for "public insult of people of Jewish faith or origin" related to his show with Robert Faurisson.[57]

On 8 June 2010, he was sentenced to a fine of 10,000 € for defamation towards the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism, which he had called "a mafia-like association that organizes censorship".[58]

Dieudonné M'bala M'bala

You can make fun of some, but certainly not ALL.

i dont know if this was mentioned already but, he's jewish and he usually makes fun of jews with his character borat, I admire the guy very much for what he does, he's a genius in my book.

guys a genius.

Well, some guy in France just thought that would be a good idea... You can't imagine the fallout...

www.youtube.com...

Personal opinion: His routine sucked, had it been really funny, it might have passed. (I'm an optimist)

reply to post by Britguy

OK if Cohen is a racist then Lisa Lampanelli must be the worst of all.
If you watch any of her shows they are littered with jokes based on racial stereotypes, so is Lisa a racist as well?

No she's not, she just takes the ridiculousness of the racial sterotypes and mocks them. Same thing as Cohen.

He played a german gay guy in bruno, was that racist?

hilarioussssssssss

A traditional african name lololo

simple answer...NO

he is a comedian, he does things for comedy effect in order to gain publicity and earn money....

I think some people take things wayyy to seriously. Those would be the same people that had Lenny Bruce arrested for dropping the F-Bomb during a comedy routine.

A comedian is supposed to be an open book. Calling him a racist is short sighted and an un-informed statement.

You might not like his comedy, but he is obviously not a racist.

And I know your probably still upset with what he did to Ron "Holy Cow" Paul.....

While I have questioned Cohen's act, I do think it's a bit silly to attack satire, but what gets me is that I think there is a double standard to how people react to racially sensitive shticks. One poster pointed out Ashton Kutcher, who had ads pulled because he was portraying Indians with brown face. I'm sure not everyone is happy with Cohen's mockery, but what outrage was there exactly?

Is there nothing wrong with it as long as there is no outrage for it? Why should some people be outraged and insulted, while others take it in stride? Is that even a smart move?

reply to post by satron


Could just be that Cohen has been doing it so long that nobody is surprised, so that when an unfunny person like Ashton Kutcher tries it now, having not tried it before, he just looks like an ass. Could also be that Cohen is European and Kutcher is a yank, people from the US aren't always so popular across the world.

what he does is again, pure genius, he tries to bring everyone together using laughter and in his show, the ali g show, he plays different personas to bring to light just how racist some people truly are still. Sasha is the complete opposite of racist and everyone should learn a thing or two from this guy.

reply to post by samsamm9


Maybe, he is Jewish.
But I don't think so. Most of his stuff is satire.
Much like like Adam Sandlers comedy.
Like when he did Zohan.

Except that Cohen goes way over the top.
Even so far as to be in bad taste.

Originally posted by jeantherapy
reply to post by satron

 

Could just be that Cohen has been doing it so long that nobody is surprised, so that when an unfunny person like Ashton Kutcher tries it now, having not tried it before, he just looks like an ass. Could also be that Cohen is European and Kutcher is a yank, people from the US aren't always so popular across the world.

Yeah but Cohen started out somewhere.

As for being unfunny, if you're unfunny doing a racially charged skit, does that make you racist by default?

Why is Aston unfunny? He does a lot of comedy to not be unfunny.

It's funny how the majority here are trying to teach me about satire and explaining how
it should be normal to not look beyond the "simple" comedy act of Cohen ...

I repeat, I LOVE HUMOR, it has always been a part of my life.
I'm fortunate enough to understand 4 languages, and taking the time to laugh is very important , I know comedians
from many places in the world, and my favorite type of humor is dark humor, non-politically correct comedy,
when it's made by intelligent/brilliant comedians, such as...

George Carlin
Richard Pryor
Dave Chappelle
Louis CK
Chris Rock
Jim Jeffries
Russell Peters
And the list goes on...........

What I'm trying to say is, could he be racist ?
Could he be serving an agenda ?

To come back to the French stand up comedian Dieudonne ,
He is far from being racist or an anti-semite, he is just showing a genius at showing the double standard
that exist in this world. A french movie came out not to long ago, the movie is a comedy about
slavery. So he said how could we make a comedy about such a tragic subject like slavery.
People were telling him to lighten up, it's no big deal, it's just a movie...

He then came back with an idea for a new movie, a comedy about the holocaust...

Is this funny ??

I love borat!

Originally posted by Gwampo
I love borat!

Doesn't surprise me

Easy comedy for an easy target.

Mainstream comedy for 7 to 77 years old,
pushed by the folks who own mainstream media.

They got you all covered lol
They know what you will like, you easy crowd.

I think the world, and mostly the U.S have incredible artists that serves a purpose and
deserve our support and attention.

Instead, be adults, search real talent that deserve your attention,
not mediocre, fast-food comedy.

But for some reason, the entertainment industry appears to truly enjoy ridiculing “brown” people, Arabs and Indians, and has no qualms about casting people not of our heritage to portray us. Indeed, just last week Popchips snack company found itself embroiled in a controversy because an ad showed Ashton Kutcher playing an Indian character in brownface, similar to what Cohen is doing in “The Dictator.”

Originally posted by skitzspiricy
reply to post by samsamm9

 

Satire ... Heard of it?

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon.

It's funny really. The reaction in the OP, is likely just the kind of reaction he's after.

I haven't seen his new film, but his charcaters are meant to shock.

From Ali-G to Borat to Bruno. These characters are meant to bring out and show the ignorance, bigotry and idiocy in our society.

edit on 18-5-2012 by skitzspiricy because: (no reason given)

Black Minstrel Shows Heard of it?