Graham Norton responds to John Cleese’s complaints of ‘cancel culture’: ‘It’s about accountability’

Talk show host reportedly described Cleese as ‘a man of a certain age who’s been able to say whatever he likes for years’

Graham Norton has apparently responded to John Cleese’s complaints of cancel culture.

The Monty Python star has long railed against what he considers to be “cancel culture” and has decried “woke” values being a part of media and entertainment.

Earlier this week, Cleese was announced as the presenter of a new show on GB News, to be hosted alongside comedian Andrew Doyle.

When speaking about it on Radio 4’s Today on Monday (10 October), the comedian explained that although he hadn’t been familiar with the broadcaster when they approached him, he learned of the channel as one focused on “free speech”, rather than being specifically right-wing.

During a recent appearance at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, Norton is said to have touched upon the idea of “cancel culture” and Cleese’s outspoken views.

“The word is the wrong word,” he began. “I think the word should be ‘accountability’.

“John Cleese has been very public recently about complaining about what you can’t say.

“It must be very hard to be a man of a certain age who's been able to say whatever he likes for years, and now suddenly there’s some accountability.”

As reported by The Telegraph, Norton added: “It’s free speech, but not consequence-free. I’m aware of the things I say.”

Graham Norton and John Cleese (Getty)

Cleese has also claimed that the television of current times is something he’s “given up on”, and that he wouldn’t accept the offer of a programme on the BBC if it was offered to him.

He told Today: “The BBC have not come to me and said, ‘Would you like to have some one-hour shows?’ and if they did, I would say, ‘Not on your nelly!’ I wouldn’t get five minutes into the first show before I’d been cancelled or censored.”

Cleese has appeared on The Graham Norton Show several times, with his most recent appearance being in 2014.

Last year, he was announced to be producing a documentary with Channel 4 titled Cancel Me, which was claimed to explore “why a new ‘woke’ generation is trying to rewrite the rules on what can and can’t be said”. Currently, there is no confirmed airdate for the programme.