Monty Python star John Cleese spoke out against woke culture and what it has done to both comedy and the creative industry as a whole this week.
The famous comedian known for pushing the fold and common decency in his prime blasted the liberal-led movement against free speech in an interview with FOX News Digital. “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,” Cleese said.
He noted that cancel culture has made it hard for many young comedians to tell the jokes they want to, telling FOX, “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.’
“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,” Cleese concluded, adding that no comedian should ever be canceled no matter how offensive people find their particular jokes.
While cancel culture has heavily impacted American media in the last decade, many big name comedians have recently been fighting back against the woke mob. Dave Chappelle managed to survive accusations of transphobia and demands for Netflix to cancel him after his hit stand up special The Closer caused waves in the LGBTQ community for it’s controversial jokes.
Up-and-coming comedians and television writers have to be much more conscious of not upsetting the woke mob, though. Do you think john Cleese is right that woke culture has seriously damaged comedy and creativity as a whole?
