Monty Python under pressure to drop his gender transition skit — RT Games & Culture
Beloved British comedy troupe Monty Python have been pressured to remove a skit from their classic film ‘Life of Brian’ which jokes about a man wanting to become a woman and have babies, co-founder John Cleese has told an audience during his one-man show last week.
“We love the script, but you can’t do that stuff on Loretta these days,” artists performing a bible parody reading last year allegedly told Cleese, claiming the sketch – in which the character Stan insists on being called “Loretta” and states “Every man has the right to have babies if he wants” – would offend modern audiences.
“So here you have something that there’s never been a complaint about in 40 years, that I’ve heard of, and now all of a sudden we can’t do it because it will offend people”, Cleese lamented. “What are we supposed to do with it?” »
In the skit, Stan’s comrades from the Popular Front of Judea are divided on whether to support the new identity of “Loretta”, and the self-proclaimed woman accuses her critic of “oppressive” him.
“I’m not oppressing you, Stan, you don’t have a stomach!” Where will the fetus gestate? Are you going to keep it in a box? asks his friend.
The only woman in the group, Judith, offers a compromise. “Suppose you agree that he can’t actually have babies – not have a womb, which is no one’s fault, not even the Romans – but he can be allowed to have babies. babies.”
Stan’s friend Reg likes this idea, stating that it’s “symbolic of our fight against oppression” – while the naysayer mumbles it’s simply “symbolic of (Stan’s) struggle with reality.”
The film version of “The Life of Brian” was previously banned in some countries for its allegedly blasphemous subject matter, being a deeply irreverent satire of biblical stories chronicling the life and times of the Christian messiah Jesus Christ.
The 2024 stage show adaptation, due to open next year in London, would remove the film’s crucifixion scene, in which the characters sing the catchy and incongruous upbeat tune ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life ‘ while the Messiah character Brian is being realized.
Eric Idle, another founding member of Monty Python, clarified in a tweet on Friday that he was not involved in the show’s version after British Comedy Guide mentioned “Cleese and Idle” after making changes to the original script.
Cleese complained last year that “cancel culture” had had a “disastrous effect” on comedy and had even caused the “death of creativity” explaining that “If you’re worried about offending people and thinking about it constantly, you won’t be very creative.”
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