Monty Python star John Cleese sparks controversy after claiming London 'is not an English city anymore'
MONTY Python star John Cleese has sparked controversy after claiming London "is not an English city anymore".
The comic, 79, was echoing comments he made nearly a decade ago that also left critics fuming.
Tweeting to his 5.6million followers, he wrote: "Some years ago I opined that London was not really an English city any more[.]
"Since then, virtually all my friends from abroad have confirmed my observation[.]
"So there must be some truth in it… I note also that London was the UK city that voted most strongly to remain in the EU".
'RACIST TWEET'
His divisive words left many social media users baffled about his concept of one of the most diverse cities in the world.
Times journalist David Aaronovitch corrected him, tweeting: "London has long been a British city, John.
"Which you might expect, what with it being the capital."
Comedian Dom Joly was also among those blasting the "racist" and "hypocritical" claims.
“He’s clearly a really smart funny man but it is basically a very racist tweet," Joly wrote.
Some years ago I opined that London was not really an English city any more. Since then, virtually all my friends from abroad have confirmed my observation. So there must be some truth in it
"Secondly, its a racist tweet by a man who lives on a Caribbean island – the irony of that is insane."
Cleese vowed to leave the UK for the Caribbean last year, blaming the "awful quality" of the Brexit debate.
But some came to the funnyman's defence, including Twitter user Sweetest Dreams Escape wrote: "As a black Briton who’s proud to serve my nation and defend free speech, why is he being racist? "NOTHING HE’S SAID IS RACIST! "And he has as much right to say this as people have the right to extol the virtues of multicultural London, which HAS lost its identity".
The Fawlty Towers star's comments came eight years after telling Australian TV he "didn't know what's going on in Britain".
He told an audience at the time: "Let me say this, I don’t know what’s going on in London because London is no longer an English city.
“I love having different cultures around but when the parent culture kind of
dissipates, you’re left thinking, ‘What’s going on?’”
More than 300 languages are spoken in London, where non-white ethnic groups make up more than 40 per cent of the city's population.
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