John Cleese defends himself amid backlash to slavery joke after mic taken away | Celebrity News | Showbiz & TV
Fawlty Towers star John Cleese has taken to Twitter to defend himself amid a backlash to his comments about slavery at the SXSW Festival. The Monty Python star, 82, hit back at a fellow user before taking a swipe at the reporter who interviewed him at the event, where his microphone was removed by a fellow comedian and panellist.
In view of his 5.7 million followers, the award-winning actor defended his comment that British people should be given reparations for being enslaved, which sparked a fierce backlash.
His microphone was snatched away by another comedian who claimed they did so to “save his career”.
Twitter user @sajidmerchant took issue with John’s comments and sent him a message explaining why.
They wrote: “John, I love ur humor man, but mockingly comparing getting reparations for things that happened 1000 years ago, to things that happened less than a generation ago is a flawed comparison. (sic)
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John spoke to comics Jim Gaffigan, Dulcé Sloan and Ricky Velez in a show called John Cleese in Conversation.
The Hollywood Reporter claims that the star made comments on the subject of colonisation.
He reportedly said: “[People] get competitive about this business of being oppressed, you do know the British have been slaves twice, right?”
The publication told how some members of the audience were “‘laughing and applauding, some weren’t, and it was hard to know how exactly to take it”.
His microphone was then taken away by comedian Dulce, who said: “I saved a comic whose career I respect.”
However, the Monty Python star reportedly went on to say: “I want reparations from Italy.
“And then the Normans came over in 1066… they were horrible people from France and they colonised us for 30 years and we need reparations there too, I’m afraid.”
His controversial comments come as his documentary, John Cleese: Cancel Me, is set to premiere later this year.
