John Cleese is ‘too old’ to fear being canceled

John Cleese “doesn’t care about being cancelled”.
The Monty Python star has warned that the trend of boycotting people with controversial views is making people “more literal” and therefore it has become harder to be funny and even if he’s too “old” and too established to care, he admitted while he was just starting his career, he was more hesitant to write.
Asked if he could have written his famous lines today, he told the Sunday Times Culture magazine: “That’s a good question.
“The thing about creativity is understanding that it’s not a talent, it’s a state of mind.
“You need to move away from fear and doubt. You need to get into a place of play and curiosity so you can find connections and push boundaries.
“Cancel culture tends to make people less broad in their thinking, more literal. It’s harder to make funny – or intellectually interesting – associations.
“Culturally, it’s dangerous. I’m so old I don’t care about being canceled.
“But as a young man, in the beginning, it might be different.”
When “The Life of Brian” was released in 1979, the Monty Python troupe faced calls for the film to be banned or censored, and John, 84, believes they were the “primary targets” of the Cancel Culture.
He said: “You could say we were the first targets of Cancel Culture.
“People don’t like their cherished ideas being altered or challenged. We all like to live in our own closed thought systems, being surrounded by people who think a bit like us.
“That’s also what’s happening on the Internet, where you find these damn echo chambers.”
John thinks the rise of cancel culture makes comedy “more important” than ever, even if it may mean crossing a very fine line.
He explained: “That’s why comedy is even more important today as a way to pierce those bubbles, to open them up, to let the fresh air in. It’s good for all of us.
“The problem is that avant-garde comedy becomes difficult if a joke that transgresses someone’s idea of ​​good taste results in the comedian being banned for life. It saps the creative impulse.”