Benedict Cumberbatch, MCU regular and star of Spider-Man: No Way Home, has been involved in a new photoshoot, and the pics are gleaming an odd reaction. Fans are comparing the Academy Award-nominee to ’90s TV series character Ali G.
In one shot from Cumberbatch’s profile on W Magazine, he sports a yellow bucket hat, pattern yellow polo shirt, and gold sunglasses. It’s a look, to be sure, and it’s reminding people on Twitter of Sasha Baron Cohen’s satirical British hip-hop caricature, Ali G. Part of The 11 O’Clock Show on Channel 4 in the late ’90s, Ali G is a heightened version of a suburban rap fan who dresses in baggy fashion, and uses slang constantly.
His sketches often had him and his mates getting into trouble for being arrogant or insulting, as well as interviewing other celebrities. One of The 11 O’Clock Show’s most popular segments, Da Ali G Show and a standalone movie, Ali G Indahouse, were made capitalising on his fanbase, before the character was retired for good in the mid-2000s.
Those who remember that particular era of British telly have pointed out that Cumberbatch may have been shopping at the same stores that Ali G frequented. It’s the hat and glasses, innit?
Benedict Cumberbatch playing Ali G in future reboot confirmed (source: me) pic.twitter.com/HDSiRQyqwb
— api lasso (@bluemaevor) January 11, 2022
Ali G for W Magazine pic.twitter.com/TbttYkzKbW
— Chris Mandle (@chris_mandle) January 11, 2022
looks like a comeback interview with Ali G where he bares all and says he regrets everything he did pic.twitter.com/0xtTbGw5rb
— Thomas Gorton (@AngstromHoot) January 11, 2022
why does he look like ali g https://t.co/rnrkyc8lgg
— tal! (@fr0ggytal) January 11, 2022
Maybe this was purposeful, and a backdoor way of teasing an Ali G reboot? Doubtful, but still quite funny. Cumberbatch has had a big year, returning as Doctor Strange in No Way Home, the highest grossing movie of 2021, and starring in drama movie The Power of the Dog, one of the major awards contenders.
He was also in The Courier, and the recent The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. Ali G could never!