Cleese last month called the BBC “cowardly and gutless” for temporarily taking down an episode of “Fawlty Towers” that made fun of Germans and World War Two and also featured a character using a racial slur.
Cancel culture “misunderstands the main purposes of life which is to have fun,” Cleese told Reuters, referring to the trend in which people are ostracized because of behavior or remarks seen as objectionable.
“Everything humorous is critical. If you have someone who is perfectly kind and intelligent and flexible and who always behaves appropriately, they’re not funny. Funniness is about people who don’t do that, like Trump,” he said, referring to the U.S. president.