John Cleese slams BBC for 'cutting short' his interview

2022-10-11

‘The moment I criticised the BBC, the interview was brought to a rapid end’: John Cleese says he is ‘amused’ after Radio 4 ‘cut short’ his interview when the Monty Python star, 82, said he would NEVER work for the Corporation again

John Cleese has pointed out irony of BBC ‘shutting down’ his interview
Actor, 82, told Today he would refuse to work for the Corporation again
He said he would be ‘cancelled within five minutes’ – then interview was cut off
Cleese tweeted: ‘The moment I criticised BBC, it was brought to a rapid end’
He will present new GB News show with comedian Andrew Doyle on ‘wokery’

Monty Python legend John Cleese today pointed out the irony of the BBC ‘shutting down’ his interview yesterday just moments after he said he would refuse to work for the Beeb again because he would be ‘cancelled or censored’ within ‘five minutes’ of being on the air again.

The actor and comedian, 82, created and starred in the classic sitcom Fawlty Towers and was one of the comedy troupe members behind the surreal sketch show Monty Python, both of which first aired on the BBC.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, Cleese, who is an outspoken critic of the stifling impact of cancel culture on creativity and famously jibed ‘there’s no such thing as a woke joke’, said: ‘The BBC have not come to me and said, ‘Would you like to have some one-hour shows?’

‘And if they did, I would say, ”Not on your nelly” because I wouldn’t get five minutes into the first show before I’d been cancelled or censored.’

Then, in a moment that perhaps only Monty Python could do justice, Today presenter Amol Rajan replied: ‘Well, we’ve given you five minutes today and I can promise you you haven’t been censored yet’ – before saying: ‘At that, I think we should leave it’.

In a tweet today, Cleese wrote: ‘I was amused that the moment I really criticised the BBC yesterday, the interview was brought to a rapid end. Before we had talked about the things we had planned to talk about ten minutes earlier’.

Cleese, who rose to fame in the 1970s as a co-founder of the surrealist comedy group Monty Python alongside Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Sir Michael Palin, previously criticised the Corporation when UKTV, which is BBC-owned, temporarily removed an episode of Fawlty Towers over apparent ‘racial slurs’ and ‘outdated language’.

John Cleese pointed out the irony of the BBC ‘cutting short’ his interview just moments after he said he would refuse to work for the Beeb again because he would be ‘cancelled or censored’ within ‘five minutes’ of being on the air again

The actor and comedian, 82, created and starred in the classic sitcom Fawlty Towers and was one of the comedy troupe members behind the surreal sketch show Monty Python

Cleese pictured on the set of Fawlty Towers with Connie Booth and Andrew Sachs

Cleese famously impersonated Hitler by goose-stepping in an episode of Fawlty Towers

Cleese in Monty Python’s Life of Brian

Cleese with Eric Idle in the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Monty Python – featuring Cleese – is one of British comedy’s most loved and influential shows

‘A woke joke isn’t going to be very funny’: The times Cleese has taken aim at ‘cancel culture’ and the BBC

July 2022: ‘Woke culture is having a ”disastrous” effect on comedy’

At FreedomFest in Las Vegas, Cleese said he does not believe comedians have the freedom to be funny anymore, blasting today’s cancel culture as the ‘death of creativity’.

The Fawlty Towers icon said that the current crackdown on jokes which could be perceived as offensive is putting off young comedians.

Cleese said: ‘I think it’s particularly worrying at the moment because you can only create in an atmosphere of freedom, where you’re not checking everything you say critically before you move on.

‘A lot of comedians now are sitting there and when they think of something, they say something like, ‘Can I get away with it? I don’t think so. So and so got into trouble, and he said that, oh, she said that.’ You see what I mean? And that’s the death of creativity.’

March 2022: ‘Maybe Italy and France should pay Britain reparations for slavery too’

In March, Cleese had his microphone confiscated at the South by Southwest festival panel in which he suggested Italy and France owed historic reparations for enslaving Britons.

Pointing to world history being ‘a history of crime’, he added: ‘It’s a history of people who were stronger beating up people who were weaker and it’s always been that. It’s deeply, deeply distasteful.

‘But to pretend that one lot were worse than another – you do know the British have been slaves twice, right?

‘[People] get competitive about this business of being oppressed. We were oppressed, the English, by the Romans from about 0 to 400.’

December 2021: Cleese blasts ‘deception, dishonesty and tone’ of BBC Asia interview

Cleese slammed the ‘deception, dishonesty and tone’ of an interview with BBC Asia after he was asked questions about cancel culture instead of his upcoming tour.

Cleese claimed he was told he would be speaking to the journalist, who he identified only as ‘Karishma’, about his tour Why There Is No Hope.

Instead, he claimed, he was hit with questions on cancel culture, Dave Chapelle and says the interviewer tried to portray him as ‘old-fashioned, uncaring and basically harmful’.

Cleese cut short the interview and said he would be making a formal complaint to the BBC.

September 2020: ‘Woke comedy ”isn’t going to be very funny”’

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Cleese said: ‘PC stuff started out as a good idea which is, ”Let’s not be mean to people”, and I’m in favour of that… despite my age.

‘I think Jesus Christ would have agreed… The main thing is to try to be kind.

‘But that then becomes a sort of indulgence of the most over-sensitive people in your culture, the people who are most easily upset.’

November 2015: ‘There’s no talent at the BBC anymore’

In an interview with Shortlist magazine, Cleese said he would never work with the BBC again because there is ‘no talent’ there.

He said: ‘There’s no way I want to work in TV, especially at the BBC. I have a nasty feeling a large proportion of the commissioning editors have no idea what they’re doing.

‘I said this the other day, and a younger comic said, ‘No, there’s one at the BBC.’ Just the one.’

On how he feels Monty Python would be received today, Cleese replied: ‘Well, the guy who was in charge of light entertainment about four years ago said he wouldn’t commission it now because it’s six white people, five of whom went to Oxbridge.

‘But the point was they made a programme that a lot of people liked.’

He added: ‘If people enjoy something, then the BBC should be making more of it. And if people don’t enjoy something, they should probably be making less of it. But their job is to produce the best possible programmes.’

The actor is joining GB News where he will present a show alongside comedian Andrew Doyle exploring ‘wokery’.

Asked about how his new show with the fledgling broadcaster came about, Cleese told the Today programme: ‘I don’t know much about modern television because I’ve pretty much given up on it. I mean, English television.

‘And then I met one or two of the people concerned and had dinner with them and I liked them very much. And what they said was, ‘People say it’s the right-wing channel – it’s a free speech channel”.’

GB News was set up in June 2021, with former BBC political broadcaster Andrew Neil positioned as chairman and host of a primetime show before he stepped down in the September.

Cleese will join the channel’s on-air talent, including former This Morning host Eamonn Holmes, former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, former Sky anchor Colin Brazier, ITV News journalist Alastair Stewart, BBC journalist Simon McCoy and former Labour MP Gloria De Piero.

Questioned about his thoughts on the limits of free speech, Cleese said: ‘Somebody once said to me, ”Everyone’s in favour of free speech, particularly for the ideas that they like”.’

Reflecting on whether free speech should extend to those spreading opinions and misinformation about public health matters, he added: ‘If there’s a factual response to something like that, then that should be made.

‘That’s the job, to put the facts out there and then to have opinions slightly separate and have a proper argument about it, but not to try to avoid a public debate and then try and get yourself through social media.’

While Cleese has previously supported the Liberal Democrats and the Social Democratic Party, he said he does not belong to either party and now finds politics a ‘confusing mess’.

He added: ‘After that appalling debate on Brexit, when I thought this country had sunk to the lowest intellectual level I can ever remember, I kind of lost interest.’

The actor continued: ‘I live in hotel rooms. I’m in hotel rooms 10 months of the year, so I’m interested in a lot of political things everywhere, but I don’t think that this country is in a good state at the moment.

‘In fact, I think the last three Tory administrations have been progressively more and more disastrous.’

In July, Cleese slammed woke culture for having a ‘disastrous’ effect on comedy.

He told FreedomFest in Las Vegas that he does not believe comedians have the freedom to be funny any more, blasting today’s cancel culture as the ‘death of creativity’.

In March, Cleese had his microphone confiscated at the South by Southwest festival panel in which he suggested Italy and France owed historic reparations for enslaving Britons.

‘But to pretend that one lot were worse than another – you do know the British have been slaves twice, right?

Cleese explained: ‘[People] get competitive about this business of being oppressed. We were oppressed, the English, by the Romans from about 0 to 400.’

Despite the event being labelled a ‘comedy panel’, his remarks sparked horrified reactions and an awkward environment for those in attendance.

Cleese in Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life (left) and And Now For Something Completely Different (right)

Cleese with Terry Jones in Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life

Cleese on a panel at the South by Southwest festival in Texas in March

Back in September 2020, Cleese told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme,: ‘PC stuff started out as a good idea which is, ”Let’s not be mean to people”, and I’m in favour of that… despite my age.

‘I think Jesus Christ would have agreed… The main thing is to try to be kind.

‘But that then becomes a sort of indulgence of the most over-sensitive people in your culture, the people who are most easily upset.’

And in November 2015, Cleese had revealed that he would never work for the BBC again because there is ‘no talent’ there.

He said: ‘There’s no way I want to work in TV, especially at the BBC. I have a nasty feeling a large proportion of the commissioning editors have no idea what they’re doing.

‘I said this the other day, and a younger comic said, ‘No, there’s one at the BBC.’ Just the one.’

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