John Cleese has blasted the “deception, dishonesty and tone” of a BBC interviewer.
The Monty Python star vowed to make a formal complaint, saying she tried to portray him as “old-fashioned, uncaring and basically harmful”.
He said: “I just did an interview with BBC World Asia to talk about the shows I’m doing in Singapore and Bangkok.
“Instead, the interviewer, whose name was, I think, Karishma, started by asking me about cancel culture.
“I replied courteously and explained that if parents were over protective, it did not prepare children for the real and often not-very-nice world.
“She then asked a disjointed question, clearly trying to portray me as old-fashioned, uncaring and basically harmful.”
(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Cleese said his response had been “totally ignored” by the interviewer, Karishma Vaswani, who then asked him about comedian Dave Chapelle, who has spoken out on cancel culture.
He added: “I removed my headphones, saying that this was not the interview I had agreed to. Karishma had no interest in a discussion with me. She wanted only the role of prosecutor.
A BBC spokeswoman said: “This was a fair and appropriate interview which touched on topics John Cleese has previously been vocal about, as well as themes within his new tour.”
(Image: Getty Images)
It comes after John came under fire for apparently making a joke about Scousers on Twitter.
He came in for a dressing down from fans after he tweeted about the news that Ford is investing £230 million in its Halewood plant on Merseyside, which will help to safeguard 500 jobs.
“Delighted to see Ford is creating 500 more jobs on Merseyside,” he tweeted.
“Let’s hope nobody half-inches the plant,” he added, using slang for stealing.
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However, his gag didn’t go down that well with fans who said it was “not funny” and suggested it belonged back in the 80s.
“It’s a feeble joke, regardless of the stereotyping,” said one unimpressed person.
“The 1980s called and want their joke back,” said another.
One Twitter user said it just wasn’t funny and added: “In the ‘i’ today there was a survey of places with the highest car thefts. Leicester was top, Liverpool was… not even in the top 10.”
“1980s jokes. Which is funny because it’s when you stopped being funny,” posted another.
One called it a “tired old stereotype”.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
