John Cleese says he's now avoiding B.C. because of crackdown on gender identity criticism

[Floyd R. Turbo]

British comedy elder John Cleese has announced that he will be steering clear of British Columbia on an upcoming Canadian tour, owing to fears that he will be prosecuted for non-adherence to gender ideology.

Article content
Cleese, 86, made the declaration in a Saturday social media post issued in response to a $750,000 fine being imposed on a former Chilliwack, B.C. school trustee who refuses to believe that gender is a “social construct.”

“What a pity! I’m arranging a theatrical tour of Canada this Fall, and now I won’t be able to risk doing any shows in British Columbia,” wrote Cleese, adding, “I was really looking forward to coming.”

In a Feb. 18 ruling by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, former trustee Barry Neufeld was ordered to pay $750,000 to an unnamed consortium of transgender teachers because he had publicly questioned the province’s policy that an individual’s gender is whatever he or she declares it to be.

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/john-cleese-bc-gender-ideology/wcm/fb754e48-6e28-4142-b58b-3b486243276b

[Hassin Bin Sober]

1. The guy has lost it. He's all over twitter posting anti trans anti woke bullshit

I almost think someone hijacked his account

[SocialDemocrat61]

5. Maybe he and Bill Maher

got freaky fridayed LOL

[Initech]

14. Oh damn it. I don't want to have to boycott Monty Python.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

16. Not looking good. Here he is today falling for some anti Muslim fake news. He's lost the plot.

[marble falls]

2. 😃🇺🇸🥢🗓️❗️

[Sympthsical]

3. I think fining someone $750k for speech is the bigger headline there

Jesus Christ.

Canada has many fine qualities to admire. That is definitely not one of them. No matter what any of us think about the man's opinion, that is no bueno. Woof.

And calling yourself a Tribunal is really not helping the Orwellian cartoon authoritarian image of it all.

[Fiendish Thingy]

7. See post #6. Nt

[Sympthsical]

13. I tried to read into it

And I'm still not clear exactly on how his position worked. Just fire him or vote him out?

But I'm walking out the door to a pediatric final exam, so it'll have to keep til the weekend. I will look at it, tho.

[Swede]

9. Hate speech is bad for society.

Western countries are waking up to it.

[Sympthsical]

12. Sorry, I'm still a liberal

And free expression is a thing liberals value.

Or at least, that's what I've believed my entire life. I know others are evolving in a different direction on that one, but I hold no space for it.

I'm a gay man. I've heard plenty of speech in my life. I still find the principle too valuable in a functioning democracy.

But if people want to create a structure where Trump or a government like his gets to decide what's hateful, go ahead and erect those gallows, I suppose.

[pcdb]

21. Having the wrong opinion isn't hate speech.

This is a great example of why we shouldn't have hate speech laws. They get abused to silence opinions the party in power doesn't like.

[usonian]

4. (High) Kick.

In character?




I find his arguments fawlty.

[Fiendish Thingy]

6. Here is a link to a more complete and detailed report

https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/former-bc-school-trustee-ordered-to-pay-750k-in-discrimination-hate-speech-complaint/

Don’t take the rantings of a geriatric has been at face value.

Neufield was a trustee, and used his position and authority to create a toxic, hostile work environment for trans teachers for years.

[Swede]

8. He had a campaign against it.

Nt

[leftstreet]

10. 2026 and he's making jokes about gender?

What is he, 86 or something?

Oh

[Torchlight]

11. I suppose a few fans will try to minimize this

but dismissing and trivializing minority groups has become a widespread, often passive tool of contributing to harm against the vulnerable, too often tacitly supported by less-than-on-point arguments.

[Oneironaut]

15. People should be able to make stupid, ignorant jokes without being prosecuted or fined.

Others also reserve the right to point out how stupid those jokes are, and, that isn’t “canceling.” For example, if you’re making “I identify as an attack helicopter” jokes in 2026, you absolutely suck and need to get better material.

[MustLoveBeagles]

17. I'm really disappointed in in John Cleese

I'd always liked and admired him. That's been diminished. And age isn't an excuse for bigotry.

[haele]

19. I had to explain Trans to a Brit expat about a decade ago...

She kept confusing Trans with either Gay or Lesbian Drag Queens/Panto performers or Traps (Queer who pretend to be Cis for money or dates).
It took a while, but she eventually understood our co-worker Morgan was serious about being female, not play-acting.

Eddie/Susan Izzard identifies openly as Trans- Fluid, and very much accepted by Brits in the business - because frankly, most who have a problem with Trans or Gender Fluid see it as Panto.

I suspect Cleese, like most TERFS, just have a really selfish, petty problem with Trans folk being serious about pronouns and gendered bathroom use.
They see it as a joke or act, and see themselves much too important to be corrected or expected to be concerned when it comes to the real world or everyday life.
But I really, really don't understand the virulent hatred of something that isn't frankly something that isn't an attack on them personally, especially when they supposedly already support or accept the LGB and Q(+) members in LGBTQ(+ )...

[MustLoveBeagles]

20. Thank you for your response

I thought the Europeans were ahead of us as far as that's concerned. You learn something new every day. I didn't know Eddie/Susan was Trans. I wish them nothing but the best. I've never understood the hate either. I think it says more about the hater than it does their target.

[Qutzupalotl]

18. Cleese was listed in Epstein's "little black book"

which has been floating around the internet for years.

https://ia600206.us.archive.org/4/items/jeffrey-epsteins-little-black-book-redacted/jeffrey-epsteins-little-black-book-redacted.pdf

Being listed is not incriminating on its own, since Epstein did some charity work. But now that countries which are not the United States are investigating and prosecuting people connected to Epstein, it seems like a fine time to make up a flimsy excuse to avoid international travel and the scrutiny that comes with it.