Terry Gilliam is a filmmaker that has always been seen as a man with a great sense of humor. What else would you expect from one of the people involved in Monty Python? But over the last year, the director has found himself involved in a bit of controversy whenever he opens up about his feelings on comedy in 2019. Basically, he isn’t a big fan of the current PC culture.
And in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, he goes into more detail about his thoughts, while also clarifying a controversial comment he made last summer.
“I always felt the British are very good at laughing at themselves; the Americans are better at laughing at other people,” Gilliam said. “I still think it’s pretty true, but it’s changing because now we can’t laugh at anybody because it causes offense.”
He continued, “There’s a kind of egotism out there: ‘Oh, they were making fun of me. Never heard of you. I’m making fun of an idea.”
The reason Gilliam is once again commenting on the state of comedy and the way society handles being offended stems from some of his comments during previous interviews. Specifically, there was a comment back in July 2018, where he said, “I no longer want to be a white male, I don’t want to be blamed for everything wrong in the world: I tell the world now I’m a black lesbian… My name is Loretta and I’m a BLT, a black lesbian in transition.”
READ MORE: Terry Gilliam Responds To BBC’s Call For Diverse Voices By Saying “I’m A Black Lesbian”
Defending his comment, the filmmaker said that at the time, he wasn’t as upset as it seemed by his words. Gilliam said, “I wasn’t particularly angry, I just played angry.”
He continued by explaining his comment and why he said what he said.
“The idea is that we’re already excluded because the world has changed,” he said. “I said, I’m tired of being, as a white male, blamed for everything that’s wrong in the world. So now I want you to call me Loretta. I’m a black lesbian in transition.”
The filmmaker goes on to explain that the Loretta joke was a reference to the film “Life of Brian,” which features a male character saying he wants to be referred to as Loretta.
He added, “People now might take offense at that. And when offense becomes so easy, it takes the fun out of offending!”
It’s likely that Gilliam’s clarification of his previous comments will not do much to sway anyone’s opinion. There will still be plenty of people that defend what he said and agree, while there will be many that will still see him as a man out of touch with the modern world.
If you don’t care about any of this, you can check out “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” which hits select theaters this Friday.
