Legendary comedian John Cleese has warned that woke ideology has not only been “disastrous” for comedy, but is leading to the “death of creativity” in general.
During an interview with Fox News, Cleese was asked if comedians today are allowed “the freedom to be funny,” to which he responded “no.”
Speaking from the site of the FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas, the Monty Python star said “There’s always been limitations on what they’re allowed to say.”
“Why, you go to Molière and Louis XIV. I mean, Molière had to be a bit careful. And there will always be limitations,” Cleese continued, adding “I mean in England, until some ridiculous late date like 1965, all plays had to be submitted to what used to be a part of the palace called the Lord Chamberlain, and he would read it and there were hilarious letters used to go back was saying ‘you may only say f— once,’ this sort of- ‘and you cannot say bugger. But you can say-‘ these sort of ridiculous negotiating letters.”
Cleese continued, “But 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.”
“What you have to be able to do is to build without knowing where you’re going because you’ve never been there before,” Cleese urged, adding “That’s what creativity is—you have to be allowed to build. And 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.”
Cleese further asserted that wokeness allows the “critical mind” to dominate the creative, with the two “definitely in opposition to each other.”
“You can do the creation and then criticize it, but you can’t do them at the same time. So if you’re worried about offending people and constantly thinking of that, you are not going to be very creative. So I think it has a disastrous effect,” he urged.
While admitting that wokeness makes creativity impossible for younger people, Cleese noted “my audience is much older, and they’re simply not interested in most of the woke attitudes.”
Nevertheless the comedian admitted that he feels a “great sadness” that there are “very, very few really good” comedy shows around now.
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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.
Last November Cleese pulled out of a scheduled speech at Cambridge University, announcing that he was canceling himself “before someone else does,” as a form of protest against the woke ‘debating society’ at the University banning another guest, art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon, for previously impersonating Adolf Hitler.
The comedian also made headlines last 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
Fellow British comedian Rowan Atkinson, famous for portraying the characters Mr Bean and Blackadder, has also slammed the rise of a destructive cancel culture, describing online trolls trying to ban everything as “the digital equivalent of the medieval mob.”
An author who says he is concerned about “the rise of overt racism” has written a novel in which white people completely disappear and the world becomes a better place for it.
The Satanic Verses Sells In Droves After Salman Rushdie Attack
Reviewer writes “Dear Mr. would-be assassin… Now a whole new generation will read it, all because you didn’t want it to be read by anyone”
Published
2 days ago
on
18 August, 2022
Steve Watson
Johnny Louis/Getty Images
Sales of Salaman Rushdie’s infamous novel The Satanic Verses have skyrocketed following the horrific attack on the author last week, in a show of strength for free speech over Islamic extremism.
The New York Post reports that Rushdie’s 1988 novel, for which he has received death threats ever since, soared to the top of multiple Amazon bestseller lists.
The book hit number one in Contemporary Literature & Fiction, Fiction Satire and Humorous Literary Fiction.
The audiobook version became the seventh best-seller in Amazon’s Audible store.
The novel was also second bestseller in both the Politics & Social Science and the Self-Help & Psychology Humor categories on Tuesday, and the 26th best-selling book overall on Amazon’s US site.
Rushdie’s other novels also saw a jump in sales.
The Satanic Verses was deplored by extremists and declared blasphemous concerning its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad.
One reviewer wrote “Hope this book becomes #1 bestseller again just as a big F*** you to religious extremists and sympathizers,” adding “I didn’t even know about this book before. So if the idea was to spread the author’s message in modern times, then they succeeded!”
“I just bought this book in response to extremists who try to silence people. You will not win,” another reviewer added.
A further reviewer wrote “Dear Mr. would-be assassin, this book is now back on the bestseller lists. You did that. You tried to silence Salman Rushdie for writing something you found offensive, and now that very work is going to be in more homes, read by more people than ever before.”
The post continues, “This is what you have accomplished. This is the only thing you have ever accomplished, and the only thing you will ever accomplish.”
“Funny thing, if there had never been a fatwa on Mr. Rushdie in the first place, how many people do you suppose would have ever even heard of this book? Now a whole new generation will read it, all because you didn’t want it to be read by anyone,” the reviewer concludes.