What did John Cleese say? Slavery controversy explored as actor has microphone taken away at SXSW panel

On Friday, March 11, 2022, while headlining his event "John Cleese in Conversation," the comedian and Monty Python star had his microphone taken away after his comments on slavery. During his event at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, the panel shifted towards joking about colonialism.

As the panel discussed colonialism, Cleese delved into slavery and said:

"[People] get competitive about this business of being oppressed. You do know the British have been slaves twice, right."

Cleese was accompanied by fellow comedians Dulcé Sloan, Jim Gaffigan, and Ricky Velez. Following the 82-year-old comedian and actor's comments, Sloan took away his microphone, saying:

"I saved a comic whose career I respect."

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John Cleese's controversial remarks on slavery

As per accounts of the event in The Hollywood Reporter's article, Sloan started the edgy debate while joking about colonization. While it is unclear if Sloan's jokes were directed towards Cleese's British origin, the latter took the opportunity to speak in Britain's favor.

The Weston-super-Mare, UK native claimed that the British "didn't start [colonizing]." However, Sloan clapped back at him and said:

"We know, but ya'll did it so well!"

THR claims that John Cleese's reply about the British giving "free passage" to black people made the crowd uncomfortable. The Hold the Sunset star also shared his brief opinion about colonization in general. While citing the matter as "deeply, deeply distasteful," Cleese also pointed out that Britain has been under oppression twice. He said:

"My people were slaves too, you know… We were oppressed, the English, by the Romans for 400 [years], from about 0 to 400."

The comic-turned-actor also dissed Italy and demanded reparations from them. During the discussion, John Cleese's fellow comedians also chimed in, addressing the ongoing controversial take from the octogenarian. Following Cleese's controversial statements, Ricky Velez slyly called back to a similar incident when comedian Dave Chappelle stirred up a massive controversy in his Netflix special, where he made jokes about transgender people.

Meanwhile, the event's moderator Dan Pasternack joked that this is why the audience's phones were confiscated before the panel began discussing. Following this, Cleese reportedly segued into a "Jew joke," and that was when Sloan deprived him of his microphone. Later, the microphone was returned to him.

After reports of his comments hit social media, many followers supported Cleese's satirical comments while only a handful criticized it. John Cleese had previously tackled the "cancel culture" and "woke culture" when he talked about the subject with 60 Minutes in 2020.

At the time, he said:

"The PC people seem to think that if you make a joke, or tease someone, you are degrading or humiliating them, and this is a complete misunderstanding... Comedy's not about perfect people. It's about all of our imperfections and it's not about things going right. It's all about things going wrong."

He also spoke about the matter in his upcoming documentary with Channel 4, Cancel Me.