John Cleese is addressing a tweet in which he claimed he and his "Monty Python" co-star Eric Idle have always "loathed and despised each other."
Cleese initially made the remark during an apparent online disagreement concerning the finances of the cherished comedy troupe. This was prompted by Idle's criticism of the other Pythons and their asset manager, Holly Gilliam, who is the daughter of Python member Terry Gilliam.
Cleese stepped forward to defend Holly, and it seems he was genuinely serious about his stance. However, the 84-year-old clarified that he wasn't being serious when he wrote, "We always loathed and despised each other, but it's only recently that the truth has begun to emerge," as noted by The Hollywood Reporter.
"I've just seen the Press Association release," Cleese wrote on X. "They got it totally wrong. My remark about 'loathing and despising each other.' 1. Referred to all the members of the group. 2. Was a joke I would have expected PA staff to have 1. An understanding of irony 2. A sense of humour."
Responding to a commentator's suggestion that he could have added "/s" to indicate he was being sarcastic, Cleese responded, "Explaining a joke kills it. And … making a joke too obvious kills it too. The requirement for surprise means that the listener has to make a small mental leap to 'get' it. Too big a jump and they won't get it. Too little, and it becomes too obvious. Tricky."
Idle sparked the controversy when he said, "We own everything we ever made in Python and I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously. But I guess if you put a Gilliam child in as your manager you should not be so surprised. One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can take out any company," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"I'm doing no more Python. I gave already," he continued, adding, "I still love and am proud of what we did as Python. It was a very unique group. I think of us as an ex-Liverpool team. We played together well. Way back in the day. But it was never very supportive of people's feelings and emotions. Not Brothers. Colleagues."
Cleese fired back, "I have worked with Holly for the last 10 years and I find her very efficient, clear-minded, hard-working and pleasant to have dealings with." The actor added that fellow Python Michael Palin "has asked me to make it clear that he shares this opinion" and that "Terry Gilliam is also in agreement with this."