Sacha Baron Cohen brought Ali G back at the Wimbledon men's final to sell weed from the stands

Ali G went to Wimbledon. Not a tribute act, not a lookalike in a tracksuit, but Sacha Baron Cohen's 1990s creation, sitting at the men's singles final on Sunday in tennis whites with a marijuana leaf on the back of his jacket and the words "Official Ganja Dealer" stitched under it.

The character announced himself on a brand new Instagram account, and the video is exactly what you would expect from a man who has not aged a day since 2004.

"Iz here at the men's singles in Wimbledon, which actually, despite its name, ain't a party for Gaylords. It's like the World Cup of something called tennis, which is like a crap version of ping pong," he said in the clip, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. "Them say that tennis is better played on grass, which is why I intend to sell as much of it while iz here."

The caption, per THR: "I iz BACK! And if u iz at dis borin wimbledore final lookin 2 get grand slammed, I iz here wif de hookup."

Rolling Stone quoted the same line and described the outfit as the full doofus package, gold chain included. Variety reported the jacket detail and the drug-dealing bit from Centre Court. Deadline's Anthony D'Alessandro noted there was no official announcement that this was really Baron Cohen under the glasses, which is a very Baron Cohen way to relaunch a character: no press release, one Instagram post, several thousand people at the most televised tennis match of the year doing a double take.

The movie is the actual news

The stunt did not come out of nowhere. Days before Wimbledon, reports emerged that Baron Cohen had quietly finished shooting a new Ali G film. Rolling Stone reported the film's existence was confirmed by the trades, with no details, no studio announced, and no release date. Deadline said the same, and pointed out that secrecy is the whole method here. You cannot punk anybody if they know you are coming.

If it lands, it will be the second Ali G movie, after 2002's "Ali G Indahouse," which never got a proper domestic release and made most of its money abroad. Deadline put that film's international take north of $23 million. Baron Cohen's bigger swings since then have gone considerably better. "Borat" grossed $262.5 million worldwide in 2006, and "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" landed two Oscar nominations after Amazon released it during the pandemic.

So a Wimbledon crowd, a new Instagram account, and a joke about selling grass on grass is not a random Sunday. It is the trailer.

What we actually know

Wimbledon has spent years cultivating a royal box full of actors, athletes and minor royals in linen. This year the most talked about man in the building was in the cheap seats, in wraparound shades, offering herbal remedies. Booyakasha.