Posted in: BBC, Opinion, streaming, TV, TV | Tagged: bbc, fawlty towers, john cleese, LGBTQ, lgbtqia, opinion, trans, transgender

Fawlty Towers: John Cleese Pokes Trans Community, Still Plays Victim

New Fawlty Towers series star/writer John Cleese spent a little more Twitter time poking at the trans community while playing the pity card.

Welcome to the world of self-inflicted wounds, Castle Rock Entertainment. Warner Bros. Discovery will be here in a moment to join you at the bar. Warner Bros. Discovery has its J.K. Rowling/"Harry Potter" problem, and based on Elon Musk's preferred choice of social media? It looks like Castle Rock might have a John Cleese (Monty Python) problem. With the former, it's pretty obvious – a big media company wants to make an expensive series, so they want the author's blessing. And to do that, WBD pinched its nose, ignored the pushback from the transgender community & its allies over Rowling's social media history, and handed Rowling the overall creative keys to the series when it comes to decision-making. On a much, much smaller scale, Castle Rock might be doing the same thing with Cleese, who's co-writing a Fawlty Towers revival series with his daughter, Camilla Cleese. Of course, we wouldn't be bringing up these names together if we didn't have a very good reason – and that reason is that the two never seem to tire from taking passive-aggressive shots at the trans community – and then flipping it around by trying to be the victim. But this time, Cleese wants Rowling to know that he feels her pain…

A couple of things, right off the bat. No one condones death or violent attack threats against anyone online – whether they're aimed at Rowling, Cleese, the trans community, or the larger LGBTQIA community. But Rowling, Cleese, and a lot of other famous folks on social media also want to have the best of both worlds. They embrace being these "rockstars" with millions of fans when they need to sell a product or push an agenda – because they know they have the kind of influence that will get them to take action. But if you call them out on what they post, then we get lots of pearls being clutched and fans being waved. I'm just an individual expressing my thoughts! Free speech! Suddenly, they act like they've been on Twitter for two weeks, rocking only 27 followers. They're the ultimate "F**k You" to Spider-Man – they want all of that sweet, sweet "great power" and "f**k you" to any of that "responsibility" s**t.

So when Cleese posts something like what you see above, you can't help but get annoyed because it's lousy on so many levels. First, it's "power" propping up "power" like either of them is a victim. It's like Bill Maher whining about "cancel culture" as he keeps getting sweeter HBO deals. Second, is it meant to be a joke? Because… it's not good. Third, if it is a joke? Then it sounds like we're getting some of his old act if he's "asked this question before," so we're not even getting new material. If this is a sign of how Basil Fawlty "navigates the modern world" in the new series, we hope he's open to a lot of notes.

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