British comedy legend John Cleese announced he will host a new television series on the anti-woke GB News channel, in a move fellow host Nigel Farage has described as a “coup” for the upstart network.
On Monday, GB News, which launched in June of last year to offer an alternative to the largely homogenous legacy media in Britain, announced that Monty Python star John Cleese will host a programme on the channel in the coming year.
While GB News is generally considered to lean right politically, the anti-woke and anti-cancel culture start-up said that it will give free rein to Cleese editorially. Cleese, who has spoken out against woke culture and its deleterious effects on comedy is a longstanding liberal, previously supporting the Liberal Democrats before coming out in favour of the economically-left and culturally-right Social Democratic Party.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday, the Fawlty Towers star said: “The nice thing about talking to the GB News audience is that they may not be used to hearing the sort of things I’ll be saying.”
Cleese continued by saying that despite his storied history with Britain’s public broadcaster, he noted that the BBC have not offered him to host any programmes as of late, adding that “if they did, I would say ‘not on your nelly’ because I wouldn’t get five minutes into the first show without being cancelled or censored.”
Ironically, immediately following the comments, the interview was concluded. Cleese commented on Twitter: “I was amused that the moment I really criticised the BBC yesterday, the interview was brought to a rapid end. Before, we had talked about the things we had planned to talk about ten minutes earlier.”
“I’ve had a very low opinion of the BBC for over 20 years. It’s been formed partly by my own experiences, but largely by conversations with talented people who are trying to make programmes with them. It’s become a parody of bureaucracy,” he added.
The new programme from Cleese will be produced by comedian and writer Andrew Doyle, who is the mastermind behind the woke parody persona Titania McGrath as well as hosting Free Speech Nation on GB News.
“John will have complete creative freedom to have the conversations he wants to have with the people who interest him most,” Doyle said. “Like John himself, it will be far from predictable.”
Fellow GB News presenter, Nigel Farage said of the hire: “John Cleese joining GB News is a real coup for the channel. Onwards and upwards.”
The announcement has drawn outrage on social media from the left-wing in Britain, including from anti-Brexit activist Femi Oluwole who said that he used to “adore” Cleese because “you knew the audience understood the far right were the bad guys. Now you’re supporting a channel Andrew Neil left because even he thought it was too far-right.”
Responding to more leftist backlash against his partnership with the right-leaning media outlet, Cleese said: “It’s just a channel. It seems to allow free speech. We’ll see if it does.”
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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