Coronation Street star Dame Maureen Lipman has said that comedy could soon be ‘wiped out’ by cancel culture.
The 75-year-old actress revealed that she thinks a “revolution” is taking place in society – and that it’s “in the balance whether we’re ever going to be funny again”.
It comes as a recent poll found that almost a third of Britons are likely to censor their more controversial viewers – even in front of friends.
The Celebrity Gogglebox star spoke out against cancel culture on BBC Radio Four’s Today programme.
She said: “I think it’s a revolution, I think it’s in the balance whether we’re ever going to be funny again.
“It’s a bit like laughter in church, something has to be forbidden to make you really laugh, to make you belly laugh – it’s when you shouldn’t be laughing and so, therefore, all the things that are being cancelled out are, I’m afraid, the things that have always made people laugh.
“This cancel culture, this punishment, it’s everywhere, you know, an eye for an eye – you said that therefore you must never work again.”
The thespian went on: “This cancel culture, this punishment, it’s everywhere, you know, an eye for an eye – you said that therefore you must never work again.
“We’re on the cusp of wiping out comedy.”
(Image: ITV)
The acting legend added: “sooner or later the “cancellers will win”.
Dame Maureen, who has enjoyed an acting career which spans the stage and screen for over five decades, told the BBC that something had to be “forbidden” to make people really laugh.
She said: “Something has to be forbidden to make you laugh, really belly laugh,
“It’s when you shouldn’t be laughing [that you want to]”
(Image: ITV)
A YouGov poll found that 49 per cent of people would tone down or disguise their opinions to avoid offending someone they had just met.
21 per cent would do the same with their family members.
The survey also found that 57 per cent of respondents regularly censor their true views on topics such as trans rights and immigration.
Dame Maureen has starred as Evelyn Plummer on the ITV soap since 2018.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
