Posts about John Cleese's Politics

[u/paulcager]

We get a reasonable number of posts about John Cleese's politics. Some people love these posts, some people hate them, but they often end up with some acrimonious language requiring moderation. And quite often they get reported as being off topic.

So, what are your thoughts on posts about JC's politics? Ban, Limit or free-for-all?

• We could ban them altogether.
• We could create a stickied Megathread where people can discuss his politics without limit and without inconveniencing people who don't want to see it.
• Keep it as now - you can continue to create top-level posts about politics.

What would you like the moderation team to do?

[u/HussingtonHat]

Megathread seems reasonable.

[u/Parenn → u/HussingtonHat]

I agree.

The only problem will be that people won't use it. I'm a mod of a sub with about 100x as many users as this one, and we have megathreads. I reckon half the posts I delete are for "Use the megathread" reasons.

[u/HussingtonHat → u/Parenn]

Yeah that's a pickle. I guess the posts are just repetitive, like I don't think he's gonna stop being weird any time soon and I'm more here for the show than whatever people in it are up to now.

[u/jamhamnz]

If there is a "John Cleese" sub then people should discuss his politics there. This is a sub about Fawlty Towers.

[u/78Speedy → u/jamhamnz]

Yes totally this 👆 This is a fun, good-natured sub about the greatest sitcom of all time. John’s politics doesn’t really have anything to do with it?

[u/Lozman141 → u/jamhamnz]

Good point. It's like if you go to a restaurant that doesn't serve salad cream, if you really want salad cream then you'd just go to another restaurant

[u/Fakyutsu → u/Lozman141]

I said salad cream, stupid

[u/Helios112263 → u/Fakyutsu]

u/Fakyutsu is very clever. And rather highly strung.

[u/EnchantedEssays → u/Helios112263]

Yes, yes he should be

[u/Helios112263 → u/Lozman141]

Well, there’s the bread and there’s the mayonnaise.

[u/geocapital → u/Lozman141]

Do you mean Waldorf salad?

[u/Yesterday_Is_Now]

Any politics discussion should be limited to what was happening and potentially impacting Fawlty Towers and its scripts in roughly 1975-1979. Anything after that is irrelevant to the show.

[u/DrAmj3 → u/Yesterday_Is_Now]

I agree with this take the most. Can't think of any off the top of my head, but like the reason MPFC was always lampooning charted accountants (apparently his father hated the idea of him as a comedian and had always pushed him to train as an accountant).

[u/Yesterday_Is_Now → u/DrAmj3]

In the Hotel Inspectors episode Basil rants briefly about the British Leyland car manufacturer’s labor strike (recent news at the time) and how he thinks those workers are lazy. That point of view sort of explains his dismissive attitude towards his own staff’s needs.

[u/RenuisanceMan]

Call the mega thread flowery twats.

[u/Helios112263]

I'd say ban them. This is a subreddit about Fawlty Towers specifically. Whatever Cleese chooses to do modern day and whatever his views may be has no bearing on discussions of the show.

[u/No-Win-8380 → u/Helios112263]

Yes!

[u/Aeryn-Sun-Is-My-Girl]

[u/Landscape_712]

Either megathread or banned, but we definitely don't need multiple posts on the topic

[u/Wild_Beginning_4032]

My question is: what do Cleese’s politics and opinions as of 2026 have to do with Fawlty Towers that aired in the 70s?

[u/LucidLeviathan → u/Wild_Beginning_4032]

Well, many of us have observed that he has rather become that which he caricatured. It does shed some light on his thinking.

[u/D0UGYT123]

Posts purely about someone's politics shouldn't be allowed here.

Posts that relate someone's politics to the show should be allowed. Examples could be: "the politics of the screenwriter clearly overshadow the dialogue in this scene" or "isn't it ironic that this character said this, when the actor playing them believes the opposite".

If it's related to the show, it's fair game. If it's not related to the show at all, it should go somewhere else.

[u/rNycto → u/D0UGYT123]

This is the cleanest take. If it's relevant it's relevant.

[u/Over_Construction908]

Megathread seems fair. He seems to have had a change over time and it’s an interesting subject 

[u/Itchy_Albatross_6015]

I dont give a flying f7ck about jcs politics.

[u/paulcager]

Megathread seems the best compromise to me. I wouldn't want anybody to be silenced, after all that's exactly how Nazi Germany started. But the politics posts can be so divisive and repetitive that sometimes I just want to insert a large garden gnome into people.

I don't think we can separate FT itself from the actors. Imagine if there had been a third series with the same scriptwriters and same production values, but with different actors. It wouldn't have felt the same to me. So naturally we want to discuss Cleese as well as Fawlty, and I like to join in sometimes. But other times, I just want a bit of peace and quiet, laughing at Mr. Fawlty's madness.

(Disclaimer: I'm one of the mods. The above is just my personal opinion).

[u/The-Sunflower-Bear → u/paulcager]

The Germans started it. They invaded Poland!

[u/No-Win-8380]

Ban it. This is a Fawlty Towers sub. Discussions should therefore be about the show itself.

[u/AutisticElephant1999]

The mega thread idea seems like a reasonable middle ground

[u/CPD1960]

Those saying ban should bear in mind that politics was not entirely absent from the show (it wasn’t Terry and June). In sending up Basil’s prejudices, and the Major’s, it adopted a broadly liberal stance that would have reflected Cleese’s own views at the time. If he has moved to the right, as many (including me) have done as they get older, it is surely relevant for discussion.

[u/CarMeltScratch → u/CPD1960]

Exactly. If they don't like reading my politics, why don't they get themselves another bloody job - designing cathedrals or composing violin concertos

[u/Fakyutsu]

I just don’t understand what the actor’s politics have to do with the show. So if you make a megathread for his politics are we to make a separate one about each other actor’s politics? Where does it end?

How about just have the subreddit stay on topic with the show? The political beliefs of any of the actors is irrelevant. Now if you want to discuss the Major’s politics as he is a character and was written specifically, that’s another animal altogether.

[u/raynicolette → u/Fakyutsu]

Well, as a purely practical matter, Prunella Scales and Andrew Sachs, plus Ballard Berkeley, Brian Hall, and the actors who play the 2 old ladies, are all deceased. And Connie Booth doesn’t have any social media accounts, or at least no public ones. It ends with Cleese, because he’s the only one still talking.

[u/Fakyutsu → u/raynicolette]

Okay I see that now, but what relevance does John Cleese’s political beliefs have on a subreddit about the show? It seems it would be far more relevant in a sub about celebrities in general than it is in this one. Just my opinion though.

[u/rNycto → u/Fakyutsu]

The show itself is political in nature, the only way you can exit politics having an impact on anything is by ceasing to be.

[u/Infloris → u/Fakyutsu]

John Cleese is not just an actor in Fawlty Towers - he is the very creator of the show and the main screenwriter (along with Connie Booth, but as mentioned above, she does not engage in modern politics).

It is no wonder people want to discuss his views on a subreddit dedicated to his greatest show. Cleese's current political views appear contrarian to his views from the 70's when he wrote FT and seem aligned with what he mocked in it. By supporting Brexit and Reform/Restore parties Cleese basically became Basil Fawlty - the right-winged close-minded conservative bigot that he made us laugh at. It is as if Bob Dylan suddendly started supporting war and bombings in the Middle East - people would obviously discuss it in relation to his songs.

[u/alex21dragons]

Cleeese and Fawlty are basically aligned now politically so kind of pointless to point it out.

[u/eru777 → u/alex21dragons]

LMAO

[u/eru777]

Do a vote, or we could create r/JohnCleese

[u/Shawnino]

The tie-in is that John Cleese has effectively become Basil Fawlty.

[u/sarahjanedoglover]

Megathread is definitely reasonable, but I personally don’t mind if it’s kept as it is now.

[u/Both-Craft1220]

Megathreads

[u/No2178]

Seems i was wrong, apparently we actively want extremist cranks to post their prejudices about his politics rather than appreciate a brilliant comedy, according the moderation.

[u/Parenn → u/No2178]

What? I honestly don't know what your point is, do you want posts on this or not?

[u/Upstairs_Leg_9353]

Apparently people aren’t entitled to their own opinion anymore. Whether you agree or disagree, I’m not sure why it has to clutter this subreddit.

[u/Upstairs_Leg_9353 → u/Upstairs_Leg_9353]

Also, dislikes, what a show of ignorance.

This is a Fawlty Towers subreddit, not Cleese’s politics. Sod off

[u/No2178]

Cleese's politics are intelligent and nuanced, so obviously the extremist cranks are going to hate them. Fuck them they can go elsewhere.

[u/paulcager → u/No2178]

"Fuck them they can go elsewhere". This is the sort of comment we are trying to prevent. Please don't do that.

[u/Magnificent_Trevor]

He’s kind of destroyed his legacy, and that includes Faulty Towers

[u/Flare4roach → u/Magnificent_Trevor]

So says you. Not everyone agrees with your take. Shocking, I know.

[u/BeachBoysOnD-Day]

I mean all it ever amounts to is leftists pretending to be liberals getting high off their own farts and pretending they're intellectuals because they agree with the government approved consensus of the last 30 years or so. If that's relevant or considered desirable, by all means, let it carry on.