Monty Python comedian John Cleese has pulled out of a scheduled speech at Cambridge University, announcing that he is canceling himself “before someone else does.”
Dave J Hogan / Getty Images
Cleese, who ironically was scheduled to bring along a film crew as part of a documentary on cancel culture called “Cancel Me,” didn’t even make it that far after the ‘debating society’ at the University banned another guest, art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon, for impersonating Adolf Hitler.
Given that Cleese has impersonated Hitler, and Nazis multiple times as part of comedy sketches and shows, he took the decision to ‘blacklist’ himself as a protest against the University’s woke move.
I was looking forward to talking to students at the Cambridge Union this Friday, but I hear that someone there has been blacklisted for doing an
impersonation of HitlerI regret that I did the same on a Monty Python show, so I am blacklisting myself before someone else does
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) November 10, 2021
Cleese added that he would be happy to do the talk somewhere else “where woke rules do not apply” and where he doesn’t have to “walk on eggshells”:
Andrew Graham Dixon did a fairly lousy impersonation of an anti-intellectual autocrat, trying to make a point about the dangerous quest for cultural purity. The Cambridge Union on the other hand appears to have perfected it and demonstrated the point flawlessly. Bravo?
— Ed the axon whisperer 🥼🧠🧬🔬 (@ed_ruthazer) November 10, 2021
If you're in Cambridge, why don't you hire a sizeable room and invite people on condition that I don't have to walk on eggshells https://t.co/qhO8viHebW
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) November 11, 2021
The comedian then responded to those who continued to be offended:
Exactly what I advocate
If you are a morally superior, hypersensitive, narcissistic Puritan, uninterested in any opinions other than your own, I actively encourage you to stay away https://t.co/bwq7KJ2poP
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) November 11, 2021
May I ask what is the right term ?
" In defiance of its own rules about free speech ", perhaps ? https://t.co/L7wxMJWCB8
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) November 11, 2021
Good question. I've been trying to find out, but there seem to be many versions of it
And one poll says 58% of the British don't know either
I wonder if you can point me at someone who speaks definitively about it
Right now I say only that it may be the opposite of Stoicism https://t.co/fyEfa3UynY
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) November 11, 2021
I suppose that, as a Python who has offended many people over the last 50 years, I've noticed that causing offence hasn't done much harm
And as you suggest, the proportion of people offended is usually very small https://t.co/zzAhilhswU
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) November 11, 2021
Here’s an example of Cleese doing Hitler on Monty Python:
Cleese has long been outspoken against cancel culture, previously slamming permanently offended woke people, insisting that they have no sense of humour and are contributing to the death of comedy.
The comedian also made headlines earlier this year by tweeting out an ‘apology’ for using ‘white English people’ as the butt of the joke in past sketches, a reaction to The Simpsons actor Hank Azaria apologising for voicing an Indian character.
Not wishing to be left behind by Hank Azaria, I would like to apologise on behalf on Monty Python for all the many sketches we did making fun of white English people
We're sorry for any distress we may have caused
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) April 13, 2021
Reference: Summit.news
