# John Cleese Cancels Himself **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [November 11, 2021, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188 "2021-11-11T14:19:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/41 "2021-11-11T22:17:16Z")
A big part of “cancel culture” is just self promotion on the part of people claiming to be canceled. “I’ve been canceled so hard that you all can’t stop talking about me!” ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2021, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/42 "2021-11-11T22:25:08Z")
Very much this. Chappelle has pivoted to just yelling “I’m cancelled!” on stage for 45 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/43 "2021-11-12T12:58:37Z")
The clip we’ve been given doesn’t have enough context for me to see even what point he was going for, but it seems fairly clear to me from his tone of voice that he’s not saying, “Hitler had a good point” or anything. His tone is very clearly mocking the words he is actually saying. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/44 "2021-11-12T14:58:49Z")
> [@tofor](#): > > The clip we’ve been given doesn’t have enough context for me to see even what point he was going for It was a _debate_. The [Cambridge Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Union) is debating society. The motion they were debating was “This house believes there is no such thing as good taste”. They usually have a few invited speakers on each side. At the end of the debate, the audience votes for which side has won. Andrew Graham-Dixon is an art historian, journalist, and TV presenter of programs on art. He was arguing that there _is_ such a thing as good taste. His argument was that Hitler had bad taste in art, and nobody would deny that, so therefore there must be such a thing as good and bad taste. However, the way he presented his argument was also in bad taste, which kind of proves the point itself – but I don’t think that was intentional.   They haven’t posted this debate (and I doubt that they will), but here’s a full example of another debate: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/lWkvopzAvoQ/maxresdefault.jpg "This House Believes AI Will Bring More Harm Than Good | Debate | Cambridge Union") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWkvopzAvoQ) ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/45 "2021-11-12T15:29:59Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#): > > but I don’t think that was intentional. Looks pretty intentional to me. I think the guy meant his performance to be in bad taste. Not the best performance, but nothing blindingly offensive. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/46 "2021-11-12T21:28:58Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](#): > > I forget where I heard this: Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right. Don’t forget the corollary - “just because you’re offensive doesn’t mean you’re funny, talented, or should be provided a platform.” ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/47 "2021-11-12T21:42:34Z")
Do we need to cancel Mel Brooks and Taika Waititi now? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/48 "2021-11-12T21:45:50Z")
Actually there was a move to cancel Mel Brooks, especially over _Blazing Saddles_. It just showed how ignorant some are in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/49 "2021-11-12T21:52:53Z")
I was actually thinking The Producers (Springtime for Hitler). ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/50 "2021-11-12T21:54:25Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Actually there was a move to cancel Mel Brooks, especially over _Blazing Saddles_. [The existence of this movement has been called into question.](https://www.salon.com/2020/06/11/no-the-left-isnt-canceling-blazing-saddles--but-the-right-wants-you-to-believe-that/) > [@msmith537](#): > > I was actually thinking The Producers (Springtime for Hitler). _To Be or Not To Be_ would be the most on-the-nose comparison. [![](https://www.goldderby.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be.jpg?w=620) ](https://www.goldderby.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/To-Be-or-Not-to-Be.jpg?w=620) ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/51 "2021-11-12T22:14:37Z")
I guess they could play the shithole game like Cleese is doing and cancel themselves. But no, there isn’t really any movement calling for any such thing, as much as the right wing agitators would like you to believe there is. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/52 "2021-11-12T22:19:50Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Woke: Telling jokes about Hitler might not be funny, depending on context, and should be discouraged. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > But no, there isn’t really any movement calling for any such thing, as much as the right wing agitators would like you to believe there is. Right, there’s just a movement that such things “should be discouraged”. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/53 "2021-11-12T22:24:44Z")
So, any criticism whatsoever is a woke mob coming to cancel you? People either need to get thicker skin, or get out of the public. They shouldn’t be demanding that people silence themselves for fear of upsetting their fragile egos by daring to say anything negative about them. Freedom of speech does _not_ mean freedom from criticism, it does _not_ mean freedom from consequence. When the most reviled form of speech is criticism of other speech, we no longer have free speech. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/54 "2021-11-12T22:35:06Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > People either need to get thicker skin, or get out of the public. They shouldn’t be demanding that people silence themselves for fear of upsetting their fragile egos by daring to say anything negative about them. I think this should apply to both the left and right wings. And both are guilty of being snowflakes. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/55 "2021-11-12T22:38:36Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Can’t tell if you’re serious, so I’ll assume you are. > > Why would I try? Let consider the statement: An ocean gets wet when it rains. Can you disprove that? If we define “getting wet” as “applying water to something” then, no, I can’t disprove it: The ocean does get wet when it rains. If we define it as “applying water to something which is dry” then the sentence doesn’t make sense as stated and is probably the wrong definition to use. The first is probably the correct definition or the statement maker needs to go back to the drawing board on their statement. As to why try? If John believes that murder is bad and John agrees with all logic and statements that murder is bad, but John is going around stating that we should kill Larry, then John is going to need to explain where he went wrong on the whole “murder is bad” thing. Similarly, here, if there’s a word which means “too X” - and it **genuinely** describes a legitimately negative form of over-Xness - and you’ve deciding to back it because evil people like to point out that “too X” is legitimately negative, then that would say that you believe that there’s something incorrect about at least one of the two statements I gave. I don’t see where either one is incorrect. I believe that they are both accurate statements that will bear all review. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/56 "2021-11-12T22:38:48Z")
I’m talking about public figures here. Are you? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/57 "2021-11-12T22:49:15Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > I’m talking about public figures here. Are you? I meant everybody, society in other words. And I still plan to watch Don Rickles on YouTube, and _All in the Family_ reruns. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/58 "2021-11-12T23:23:27Z")
Cleese’s move is plainly self-promotion, but besides that I can see a valid point. It is dispiriting to think that students, of all people, feel the need to ban someone for being provocative and offensive in their delivery (the speaker clearly isn’t a nazi apologist). There’s education in pushing boundaries. And as a life-long liberal I find it dispiriting that I’m probably on the ‘wrong side of history’ by not fully buying into the modern liberal puritanism. It just seems so bloodless to me. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2021, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/59 "2021-11-13T01:33:47Z")
Man, Cleese really longs for the days when he was relevant, doesn’t he, when he was the upstart tweaking the fogeys, and not the fogey being tweaked? I’m all for people reliving their glory days in their golden years, but damn, man, this one’s just a little sad. Cleese, your current stuff isn’t relevant, and your old stuff is funny in the way Punch and Judy are funny. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2021, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188/60 "2021-11-13T02:16:34Z")
Just because you’re younger than Cleese doesn’t mean you aren’t the fogey in the situation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-cleese-cancels-himself/954188.md?page=4)