Sorry to Bother You is a 2018 American surrealist black comedy film written and directed by Boots Riley, in his directorial debut. It stars Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Danny Glover, Steven Yeun, and Armie Hammer. The film follows a young black telemarketer who adopts a white accent to succeed at his job. Swept into a corporate conspiracy, he must choose between profit and joining his activist friends to organize labor. Principal photography began in June 2017 in Oakland, California. Sorry to Bother You premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 6, 2018, by Annapurna Pictures through Mirror Releasing. The film received critical acclaim for its cast, concept, and soundtrack, as well as Riley's screenplay and direction. Plot Cassius "Cash" Green lives in his uncle Sergio's garage with his girlfriend, Detroit, an artist. Struggling to pay rent, Cash gets a job as a telemarketer for RegalView. Cash has trouble with customers until Langston, an older co-worker, teaches him to use his "white voice" and adopt a blithe, affluent persona on calls, at which Cash excels. Cash's coworker Squeeze forms a union and recruits Cash, Detroit, and their friend Sal. When Cash participates in a protest, he expects to be fired but is instead promoted to an elite Power Caller position. In the luxurious Power Caller suite, Cash is told by the lead Power Caller, Mr. ___, to always use his white voice. He learns that RegalView secretly sells military arms as well as cheap labor from the corporation WorryFree, through which employees sign lifetime contracts to work and be housed in factories, which many condemn as slave labor. Though Cash is initially uncomfortable with the job, he is celebrated at work and can now afford a new apartment, a flashy new car, and pays off Sergio's house (in the process keeping him from joining WorryFree). He stops participating in the union push and Detroit quits her RegalView job to avoid conflicting loyalties between the two, while secretly participating in the Left Eye Faction, an anti-WorryFree activist movement. She breaks up with Cash, arguing that his immoral job has changed him, while he insists he has the right to be proud of his success. He later attends Detroit's art exhibit and artistic performance uninvited, at which she uses a