John Cleese

[Guy Profumo]

No, John, you can't say that.

These people are Wogs!

As the article pointed out, he said this several years ago.

Why has this Bahamian resident restated it now?



https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-...-latest-update

[Diable Rouge]

Indeed, Palin is trending now, purely as the anti-Cleese.

[Fussbudget]

I note also that London was the UK city that voted most strongly to remain in the EU.”

Patently untrue.

[Sporting]

Well, talk about growing into your characters.

[Sporting]

Seriously, ever since Cleese's friendship with the unspeakable Michael Winner became known to me some years ago (and I'm sure there were other clues and pertinent interviews at the time) my love of his work has been tempered by the unacceptability of his political and often unsavoury personal views.

[treibeis]

Patently untrue.

Which city was it? (Genuine question, from somebody who wasn't allowed to decide one way or the other.)

[Lang Spoon]

I'm guessing Edinburgh, unless you can count Gibraltar as a city.

[Sporting]

Oxford, maybe?

[ursus arctos]

Edinburgh was 74.4 percent Remain; Oxford 70.3

Gibraltar 95.9, of course

[Fussbudget]

According to this report:

Most London boroughs voted to remain in the EU - bucking the national trend.

Across all 33 boroughs in the capital, 59.9% (2.26 million) voted in favour of remaining in the EU.

A few UK cities where the remain vote was higher than 59.9% (there might be others): Aberdeen, Brighton & Hove, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Derry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Newry, Oxford, Stirling.

[Tactical Genius]

The fact that he is planning on moving to the Caribbean is another clue.
He has no doubt bought a massive estate that was once a slave plantation so he can carve out his own neo-colonial paradise for the rest of his days sipping iced lemonade on his verandah whilst barking out orders to some deferential "boys" in the field below him

[Fussbudget]

Which city was it? (Genuine question, from somebody who wasn't allowed to decide one way or the other.)

Sorry, I haven't answered your question at all have I? Spoony was right that Edinburgh is officially the highest, though Derry might actually be higher but it's impossible to know because of the way the votes were counted in Northern Ireland (Foyle was 78.3% Remain so it's fairly likely.)

[Hot Pepsi]

The fact that he is planning on moving to the Caribbean is another clue.
He has no doubt bought a massive estate that was once a slave plantation so he can carve out his own neo-colonial paradise for the rest of his days sipping iced lemonade on his verandah whilst barking out orders to some deferential "boys" in the field below him

I suspect he's more interested in the tax-evasion.

[Tactical Genius]

I suspect he's more interested in the tax-evasion.

But he made most of his money in the 20th Century, he is just living off that and of course royalties which no doubt provide a steady cheque. It not like he is still making blockbuster movies.

[ursus arctos]

TG, in my experience, the vast majority of people who are living off dividends, interest and capital gains are still eager to minimise their taxes.

It is one of the reasons so many Americans retire to states with low (or no) state income taxes and lower sales taxes (the closest we come to VAT).

That said, you are almost certainly spot on as to the nature of his landholdings there.

[WOM]

Cleese does a fair bit of touring, and standup is pretty easy and very lucrative at this point in his career. He notoriously toured a few years back just to pay down some pretty large spousal support tabs. The 'alimony tour', IIRC.

[treibeis]

The fact that he is planning on moving to the Caribbean is another clue.
He has no doubt bought a massive estate that was once a slave plantation so he can carve out his own neo-colonial paradise for the rest of his days sipping iced lemonade on his verandah whilst barking out orders to some deferential "boys" in the field below him

I'm no John Cleese fan, but:

You say he has "no doubt" bought this estate. If you've no doubt he's bought it, then he must have bought it. Where is it?

[Diable Rouge]

Sorry, I haven't answered your question at all have I? Spoony was right that Edinburgh is officially the highest, though Derry might actually be higher but it's impossible to know because of the way the votes were counted in Northern Ireland (Foyle was 78.3% Remain so it's fairly likely.)

Yes, Foyle is essentially Derry city - and given the heavily-nationalist demographics, the percentage tallies.

[Hot Pepsi]

More on Nevis.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jul/12/nevis-how-the-worlds-most-secretive-offshore-haven-refuses-to-clean-u


According to my quick research, Nevis doesn’t really have big plantations any more because the land was distributed in the 18th century following emancipation.

[Diable Rouge]

http://twitter.com/PriyamvadaGopal/status/1133685824766337024

[Tactical Genius]

Cleese does a fair bit of touring, and standup is pretty easy and very lucrative at this point in his career. He notoriously toured a few years back just to pay down some pretty large spousal support tabs. The 'alimony tour', IIRC.

That's a fair point, but still small beer to his 70's and 80's heyday.

You say he has "no doubt" bought this estate. If you've no doubt he's bought it, then he must have bought it. Where is it?

It's in Nevis like he told us..

Hot Pepsi, you have linked to the same article twice.
Like the rest of the British Carribbean, there was alot of land distribution to the locals (not sure if it was as far back as the 18th Century as slavery was abolished in the 1830's in the British Empire) But going by the rest of the british carribbean that I have been to Alot of these plantation sized estates persist, even with the big house and can be purchased by someone with Cleese financial ability.
After all, people like Branson own entire Islands.

[Satchmo Distel]

Cleese will be having drinks with Danny Baker as they exchange monkey pics :-)

In seriousness, I think his racism comes from the lazy stereotyping of his era, which Python and Fawlty Towers parodied but also mimicked (having it both ways). OTOH I think Cleese's tweet is more anti-European and xenophobic than mainly about colour (although it's not an either/or choice obviously, more a matter of the balance between them).

The exploitation of Caribbean labour is mainly about capitalism and hyper-tourism than plantations, I would have thought. There are serious issues of land being stolen from the people but they are systemic and global.

[Hot Pepsi]

I only meant to offer one link. The second sentence isn't supposed to be a link, but somehow became part of the previous link.

Yeah, I meant the 19th century. It was all about sugar plantations there, but then the end of slavery made that no longer cost-effective, I guess, so Nevis was supposedly a bit more democratic than St. Kitts.

I don't think all of Nevis is big enough for anyone to have a really big estate. Depends on how one defines big, I suppose. I don't get the impression that there's much agriculture happening there now or that it's good for much, so if somebody owns a lot of land it's just because they don't want to see their neighbors.

[treibeis]

It's in Nevis like he told us..

Nobody told me anything.

If you're referring to the Express link that Guy Profumo posted, then, yes, he's thinking of living there, yes.

It's funny, these links to the Express, Mail, Telegraph and fucking Neptune. Sometimes they're true and sometimes they're, well, bollocks. I've never understood when's what.

[Tactical Genius]

Due to Nevis secrecy Laws, we will never know for sure unless Cleese tells us himself. Treibeis.

Hot Pepsi.
Plantations did not end with slavery, They just converted the slaves into (various forms) of indentured labour like in your country. And if the slaves didn't co-operated, they imported a bunch of Indian peasants to do the work. That's how the British Carribbean ended up with it's resident Indian population (see also Mauritius).