John Cleese has recently made a new controversial statement as he apologizes to the public for doing a role during Monty Python to mock White English people.
Surprisingly, the statement is not as simple and naive because what he is referring to is Hank Azaria’s apology to the Indian people for hurting their sentiments by playing the role of Apu in The Simpsons cartoons.
Not wishing to be left behind by Hank Azaria, I would like to apologise on behalf on Monty Python for all the many sketches we did making fun of white English people
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— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) April 13, 2021
According to Hank Azaria, he was unaware of how his role is adding fuel to the stereotypical attitudes towards South Asian people in American society. He believes that growing up as a white kid in Queens undoubtedly had privileges and these privileges kept him unaware of what kids of other races are going through.
But luckily for him, he has now admitted his part and thus wants to apologize to all Indians who have ever faced any kind of racism and aggression.point 232 |
Hank visited his son’s school for getting some inside stories about how this character has impacted Indians’ lives and one 17-year old boy shared how he has never seen The Simpsons but knows the stereotypes related to Apu.point 197 | 1
While many people appreciated Hank’s move including some of his counterparts from the entertainment industry, however, it seems like not many people were along the same lines. John Cleese, who has played the role of Monty Python did not like the idea of Hank apologizing over a fictional character.
According to Cleese, we should not run society based on overly sensitive peoples’ opinions who are easily offended at anything. If we do this, we are making a neurotic society which is not normal. He believes that humor should not hurt anyone and we should be inclusive of all the people but taking this idea into account has made us all more sensitive than we normally should be.
These are the sentiments he shared while making a presence on BBC Radio 4’s Today last year and it seems like he has not regretted anything he said about being politically correct.