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“Monty Python” star John Cleese faced backlash on Twitter after he doubled down on his years-old suggestion that London is “not really an English city” because of immigration.
The British actor in 2011 said “London is no longer an English city” and that it “doesn’t feel English.” He also claimed a Californian friend had asked him, “where are all the English people?”
Cleese returned to the controversial theme Wednesday morning when he tweeted that “since then, virtually all my friends from abroad have confirmed my observation.”
“So there must be some truth in it … ” the 79-year-old added.
Cleese backed the United Kingdom’s 2016 Brexit decision to leave the European Union. Last year he revealed he was “disappointed” with the country and moving to the Caribbean island of Nevis.
The irony of Cleese, who doesn’t even live in England anymore, complaining about its diverse capital not being English enough was not lost on fellow tweeters.
One person claimed the actor had “gone a bit Morrissey here.”
It was in reference to the former Smiths frontman who sparked anger earlier this month when he wore a pin featuring the logo of For Britain, the far-right and anti-Islam British political party, during a performance on “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon.”
Others gave Cleese a history of the city, starting with its Roman roots.
Tanja Bueltmann, a history professor at Northumbria University, told The Guardian newspaper she found it “hypocritical that someone who is actually living abroad feels the need to make a point like this.”
“Why do some British people not see themselves as immigrants if they’ve moved elsewhere?” she added. “We see cases of British people referring to themselves as expats, detaching themselves from the term immigrant.”
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