John Cleese responded to questions about cancel culture in a BBC Asia interview.

Cleese, 82, claims he was told he would be speaking to the journalist, who he identified only as ‘Karishma’, about his tour Why There Is No Hope, which he is due to bring to Singapore and Bangkok. 

He claims that he was asked questions about cancel culture and Dave Chapelle by the interviewer. He was portrayed as “old-fashioned”, uncaring, and basically dangerous.”

Cleese ended the interview short and stated that he will be filing a formal complaint against the BBC. Cleese did not confirm the identity of the journalist. 

BBC defends interview and says it follows editorial guidelines 

John Cleese has slammed the 'deception, dishonesty and tone' of a recent interview with BBC Asia after he was asked questions about cancel culture instead of his upcoming tour

John Cleese has criticised the tone, deception and dishonesty of an interview with BBC Asia. He was being asked about cancel culture rather than his tour.

The actor shared his outrage in a lengthy Twitter thread, seen above in full

This actor expressed his disgust in an extensive Twitter discussion, which can be seen in its entirety above.

In a tweet thread, he recounted his interview and wrote: “I did an interview for BBC World Asia. The interview was about my shows in Singapore and Bangkok.

“Instead, Karishma the interviewer started asking me questions regarding Cancel Culture.

“I was polite and fully informed. I said that it didn’t prepare the children for entering the real, sometimes not-very-nice, world if parents were too protective.

“She asked me a question that was not related to my previous experience, and clearly tried to paint me as uncaring, old-fashioned, and ultimately harmful.

Cleese claimed that his reply was “totally ignored” by the interviewer. He then asked about Dave Chapelle’s ongoing pandemic.

The Backlash against Chappelle’s Netflix Special, The Closer has been sparked by his remarks about LGBT+ people. Some Netflix workers walked out of the show in protest. The comedian also told the audience that “gender” is an actual fact.

Terry Gilliam, Cleese’s Monty Python star Terry Gilliam has publicly supported it 

Cleese said, “I took my headphones off and I was able to hear you.” This was not the interview that I agreed to.

“I am writing to complain about the tone, disinformation and deception of the interview with the BBC. Karishma did not want to have a dialogue with me.

“She only wanted the prosecutor’s role.” She needs to be trained again by the BBC.

Last month the comedian 'blacklisted himself' from the Cambridge Union debating society after a historian who impersonated Adolf Hitler during a society debate was banned. He famously impersonated the Nazi dictator in a Monty Python sketch, above

The comedian was ‘blacklisted’ by the Cambridge Union Debating Society after an historian impersonating Adolf Hitler in a society debate was prohibited. He famously impersonated the Nazi dictator in a Monty Python sketch, above

Alongside his Monty Python sketch, Cleese also famously impersonated Hitler by goose-stepping in an episode of Fawlty Towers

Cleese’s Monty Python skit was not the only thing that Cleese did. He also goose-stepped in an episode Fawlty Towers impersonating Hitler.

He stated that the media would no doubt report I had’stormed out’. He didn’t. Nor did I lose my temper. However, I felt depressed by the amount of presenter-ego crap that is now so common.

Cleese made a retort to the BBC. A spokesperson told Metro.co.uk that this was a fair, appropriate interview. He also touched on themes in his tour and topics John Cleese previously spoke out about.

“Our interviewer was an experienced and excellent journalist, who performed the interview within our guidelines.”

Two very well-known clips, in which John Cleese is seen impersonating Adolf Hilter  

Monty Python’s Flying Circus

Cleese is the fictitious Hilter (a National Bocialist candidate in a By-election held in Minehead). 

Along with ‘Ron Vibbentrop’ – assumedly Nazi Germany’s foreign secretary Joachim von Ribbentrop-, and ‘Heinrich Bimmler’ – presumed by Heinrich Himmler- he plans to win the byelection.

This group began to try to persuade the locals to support their policies. Their main goal was to annexe Poland.

In a speech from a balcony covered in Nazi flags, he proposes changing the town’s name “Meinhead”.

The constituents appear to be unaware of Adolf Hitler’s true identity despite several clues. Heinrich said “Hitler” accidentally before saying “Hilter”, after Cleese had pushed him. 

The outcome of the by-election is not known.

Fawlty Towers: The Germans 

Cleese continues to offend German guests in this episode as he plays Basil Fawlty. However, despite telling staff repeatedly “Don’t talk about the war”.

Fawlty who is concussed, one moment goose-steps forward of his guests and uses his finger symbolizing a Hitleresque mustache.

Cleese said that war references are a long-standing topic of discussion, despite Cleese insisting that it was the Germans making the joke, and the British being obsessed by victory over Nazis.

Due to its use of racist slurs including the “n-word”, the show was taken off BBC-owned UKTV in the last year.

Fawlty engages in conversation with Major Gowen during this episode. He tells Fawlty a story about a cricket match where he uses terms like “n-word”. 

However Cleese branded the channel ‘stupid’ for not realising the show was mocking the Major’s use of the n-word and added: ‘We were not supporting his views, we were making fun of them.’ 

The comedian was ‘blacklisted’ by the Cambridge Union Debating Society after an historian impersonating Adolf Hitler in a society debate was prohibited. 

He said that he was ‘blacklisting himself’ before someone else, a reference to the comedian who impersonated Hitler in Monty Python sketches and Fawlty Towers.

After Keir Bradwell (student president, 200-year-old Cambridge Union), emailed members, to inform them that he was creating a ban on speakers, his comments were received.

Later, Mr Bradwell announced that he had retracted his original idea. 

He said: ‘Obviously announcing a U-turn looks silly. It was just me, a 21 year old who wanted to improve the situation. There is no policy to ban anyone for what they are going to say – it’s a free speech institution.’ 

The Daily Telegraph was also informed by him that he supports free speech in the event of a conflict between offence and free speech. I do not want to make it seem that the union is against freedom speech.  

After seeing his work “cancelled”, Cleese had previously voted against ‘woke cultural’.

After the BBC removed an episode Fawlty Towers for inappropriate language, he contacted them. 

The argument was about the Fawlty towers episode “The Germans”, which premiered on TV in 1975. 

Cleese plays Basil Fawlty in the episode. He repeatedly offends German guests by mentioning the Second World War, despite telling staff to ‘Don’t mention it’.

Fawlty who has concussion symptoms, is seen making a Hitler moustache with his finger and walking in front of guests.

Although the war references are a long-standing topic of discussion – despite Cleese insisting the joke was about older Britons who were obsessed with the Allied victory against the Nazis – the removal of the episode was ultimately due to Cleese using racial slurs including the n word.

Fawlty and Major Gowen have a conversation during the episode. Fawlty tells a story about a match between cricket players in which he used racist terms like the n-word. 

However Cleese branded the channel ‘stupid’ for not realising the show was mocking the Major’s use of the n-word and added: ‘We were not supporting his views, we were making fun of them.’

His tweet refers to the Hitler impression, but it is his impression of Hitler as a Nazi dictator.

Cleese is the fictitious Hilter (a National Bocialist candidate in a Minehead by-election). 

Along with ‘Ron Vibbentrop’ – thought to be Nazi Germany’s foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop-, and ‘Heinrich Bimmler’ – presumed to Heinrich Himmler-, he plans to take the seat.

They tried to persuade locals about their plans, which included the annexe of Poland.

In a speech from a balcony covered in Nazi flags, he stated that he supports changing the name of the village to ‘Meinhead.

There are several obvious clues to the fact that the candidate is Adolf Hitler. Heinrich said ‘Hitler’ accidentally before changing it back to ‘Hilter’. However, constituents don’t seem to know the true identity of the candidate. 

If Mr Hilter wins, it is not revealed in the sketch. It was written by Cleese with fellow Python Michael Palin. 

MailOnline reached out to the BBC for comments.