John Cleese hit back at Muslim activists who tried to cancel his Monty Python tour, scheduled for a stop in Birmingham, England on Sunday night. Cleese, 86, a well-known British actor famous for the Monty Python TV show and movies, is touring England currently on a Holy Grail tour, as reported by GB News. The tour features a screening of the 1975 "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," a classic film, then taking questions live on stage.
Local Birmingham Muslim activists tried to cancel the stop. The activists, calling themselves "Deenified," told the venue that Cleese was "using your platform to attack Islam," and “spreading dangerous misinformation and creating hostility towards Muslims.” Cleese has been outspoken in his opposition to the Islamification of his homeland.
"Let’s call out the hypocrisy: free speech has become a convenient shield for anti-Muslim hostility and vilification with no consequences," they said. "You’re not a comedian—you’re a hate preacher. Birmingham and its community outright reject your so-called 'comedy.' You aren't welcome here," they said in a post.
They added, “Free speech in this country is applied selectively. It only seems to extend to the groups the elites deem acceptable to vilify in order to meet their agenda.” They asked Birmingham Town Hall to cancel the show, saying that it “undermines public trust.”
Cleese had been criticized or comments on social media about Islam, including that the Quran is “all about killing infidels.” He has also said that Muslim beliefs are “attacking British values” and that London “is not an English city anymore.”
Melissa Chen posted, “Nothing says ‘we’ve fully integrated into British culture’ like trying to cancel John Cleese - the living embodiment of British humour and irony - for screening Monty Python and the Holy Grail. When native Brits talk about invasion and colonization, this is exactly the kind of thing they mean.”
John Cleese responded to the accusations on X, firing off, “Let’s see what they get up to. Islamic folk are often very good fun, with a great sense of humour, especially of irony. I look forward to an evening of laughter,” responding to Josh Howie, host of Free Speech Nation. Howie had posted, “Just waiting for all my fellow comics to take a stand and denounce this attempt by Islamists to intimidate and ban one of the UK’s greatest living comedians. Anytime now. Anytime.” Artists in the UK have not been in the habit of defending their colleagues who speak out against lefist and Islamic ideology.
Cleese also posted: “Hard for people to tell if you are a comedian when they have absolutely no sense of humour.” as a reply to David Atherton’s post, “wanting something banned because you don’t like their views is the opposite of what Britain stands for. You are free to go and live in a Muslim Country.”
Replying on X to a post from Fiona goddard, Cleese wrote, “If people feel offended, they can always go and sit down and feel offended for however long it takes.”
Cleese has said that the Holy Grail movie is “now rated as the 13th funniest film ever made and we had no idea what we were doing.” The film followed the comedy troupe’s Flying Circus TV show, which starred Cleese in several roles, including Sir Lancelot the Brave, the Black Knight, and Tim the Enchanter. Other stars from the TV series included Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.
The show went on as scheduled.
