John Cleese mocks Fox News for covering Monty Python joke as part of CHAZ report

‘I thought we had an autonomous collective’, anchor quotes from 1975 film live on air

Comedian John Cleese has mocked Fox News for quoting a Reddit joke that referenced Monty Python and The Holy Grail live on air as part of a report on Seattle’s Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ).

Cleese’s comment followed a weekend of mockery of the network by social media users after Martha MacCallum, host of Fox News’ The Story, attempted to illustrate claims that there was leadership problems within the community by reading aloud a screenshot of a Reddit post.

The reporter failed to realise that the user was quoting a scene from Cleese's famous 1975 comedy Monty Python and The Holy Grail, and the moment quickly went viral online.

“BREAKING: No one @FoxNews has ever seen @montypython & The Holy Grail. #runit #goodjournalism #factchecking”, the Monty Python troupe co-founder mocked in a tweet on Monday.

In the scene referenced in the post, King Arthur approaches two peasants who are mud-farming out on the land and announces himself as their king. A satirical conflict over the leadership structure ensues.

“I thought we had an autonomous collective,” Ms MacCallum said. “An anarcho-syndicalist commune at the least, we should take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week.”

“We take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week, but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs, but by a two-thirds majority in the case of purely external affairs,” on of the peasants, Dennis, actually says in the film which was quoted nearly verbatim in the Reddit post.

The Reddit post later included the quote where Dennis says the king can’t “simply expect to wield supreme executive power just because someone threw a sword at him”.

This portion of the post was not read aloud by the host to viewers but it was shown in the screenshot aired.

It is not the first time that the network, which is America’s most-watched cable news channel, has been criticised for spreading false information about the police-free settlement, which was formed in support of Black Lives Matter in protest of the killing of black American's by police.

The broadcaster had to remove doctored pictures from its website on Friday that pushed misleading information about the settlement after The Seattle Times reported that the photos were inaccurate.

There have been conflicting reports of the nature of the commune, with President Donald Trump and Fox News calling the people involved with CHAZ anarchists, while other reports show that the area has remained a peaceful and supportive community.

Fox News declined to comment about the Monty Python error when contacted by The Independent on Sunday.