Terry Gilliam: I was cancelled for recommending Dave Chappelle | Ex-Python claims Old Vic dropped him over support for controversial comic

Terry Gilliam: I was cancelled for recommending Dave Chappelle

Ex-Python claims Old Vic dropped him over support for controversial comic

Terry Gilliam claims he was ‘cancelled’ by London’s Old Vic Theatre - just for recommending Dave Chappelle’s controversial Netflix special.

In October, the venue dropped a new production of Steven Sondheim’s musical Into The Woods that was to be directed by the former Monty Python star.

Now Gilliam says bosses were ‘intimidated by a small group of closed-minded, humour-averse ideologues’ after he suggested his Facebook followers watch Chappelle’s new Netflix special, The Closer. The show has been accused of transphobia but Gilliam called the stand-up ‘brilliant and provocative’.

Chappelle in the closer

Gilliam has previously mocked trans people by saying: ‘When I announce that I'm a black lesbian in transition, people take offence at that.’

He has also said he was ‘tired of white men being blamed for everything’ and  described the #MeToo movement as a ‘witch hunt’. That is close to home for the Old Vic, which previously employed Kevin Spacey as its artistic director.

Now 81-year-old Gilliam  has written on Facebook: ‘It is very sad that a great cultural institution like the Old Vic allowed itself to be intimidated into cancelling our production of Into The Woods by a small group of closed-minded, humour-averse ideologues on their staff who  absurdly call themselves "The Old Vic 12"  as if they are victims of some cruel injustice desperately fighting for their freedom.’

‘Freedom of speech is often attacked. But I never imagined that freedom of recommendation would be under threat as well.’

Theatre Royal Bath has now agreed to stage his version of Into The Woods, where it will open in August.

» Review of Dave ​Chappelle: The Closer

Published: 14 Dec 2021

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