{UAH} John Cleese criticised for saying London no longer an English city
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John Cleese criticised for saying London no longer an English city
Comedian Dom Joly among those condemning 'racist' and 'hypocritical' claims
The Fawlty Towers actor John Cleese has been criticised for repeating his 2011 claim that London was no longer an English city.
Cleese, 79, tweeted his friends abroad agreed with his observation, adding: "So there must be some truth in it." The comedian described London, where 59.9% voted in favour of remaining in the EU, as "the UK city that voted most strongly to remain in the EU".
Some years ago I opined that London was not really an English city any more
Since then, virtually all my friends from abroad have confirmed my observation
So there must be some truth in it...
I note also that London was the UK city that voted most strongly to remain in the EU
Last year, the Monty Python comic announced he was moving to the Caribbean because he was disappointed with Britain.
Tanja Bueltmann, a professor of history at Northumbria University and an EU rights campaigner, said Cleese's comments were designed to stir up emotions around the current debate on Brexit, but argued it pointed to a much larger issue of how British people talked about immigration.
"I find it hypocritical that someone who is actually living abroad feels the need to make a point like this," she said. "Why do some British people not see themselves as immigrants if they've moved elsewhere? We see cases of British people referring to themselves as expats, detaching themselves from the term immigrant."
Kuba Jabłonowski, a social science researcher based in Bristol, said he was shocked when he saw the tweet. "He claims to care deeply about Britain and its cities, but seems to know very little about them," he said.
Jabłonowski added there were other UK cities, including Edinburgh, Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow, that voted to remain in even bigger numbers. "If he doesn't know that, then why is he commenting on it? When I say things on Twitter, 700 people read it, but when he does, millions read it."
The award-winning British comedian Dom Joly, 51, was quick to criticise Cleese's tweet. He said: "John Cleese is one of my comedy heroes … Suddenly this thing came out of nowhere and it's so depressing on so many levels."
Joly added: "He's clearly a really smart funny man but it is basically a very racist tweet. Secondly, it's a racist tweet by a man who lives on a Caribbean island – the irony of that is insane. Even the language is insane, who uses the word opine?"
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