John Cleese Accuses BBC Of “Social Engineering” After Cutting Blackface Sketches From ‘That Mitchell And Webb Look’

John Cleese is unhappy with the BBC for removing sketches from comedy series That Mitchell and Webb Look.

The BBC confirmed earlier this week that jokes featured in David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s show had been cut ahead of it being restored to iPlayer for its 20th anniversary.

As many as 11 sketches were removed, including a self-referential skit in which Mitchell and Webb joked about the appropriateness of Blackface while in Blackface.

Cleese, who is no fan of historical revisionism, attacked the BBC in X/Twitter posts, describing the edits as “social engineering.”

“If the BBC could prioritise making great programmes ahead of social engineering they might be worth the licence fee,” he wrote.

In another, Cleese shared a post from James Dreyfus, star of BBC comedies including Gimme Gimme Gimme and The Thin Blue Line.

“So, the BBC have decided that 11 of Mitchell & Webb’s sketches are no longer deemed ‘appropriate for modern day audiences,’ despite the fact that ALL their material comes from an intelligent source base, that pokes fun at & ridicules the foolish & ignorant,” Dreyfus wrote.

“And people have the nerve to suggest that ‘we’d miss the BBC if it suddenly disappeared’…? Not in its current incarnation, believe me…”

Cleese responded: “The BBC knows what’s best for us. And some of us know what’s best for the BBC.”

The BBC declined to comment beyond a statement issued earlier this week. “That Mitchell and Webb Look has been made available on BBC iPlayer. This is a 20-year-old sketch show; in consultation with the programme makers, we have included the ones that still work today and not the ones that don’t,” a spokesperson said.

Cut sketches include one in which Mitchell and Webb play English Civil War re-enactors who have grown bored of their roles and recreate a conflict between government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a rebel militia.

Mitchell asks: “Are you absolutely sure that this isn’t racist?” They agree to stop the reenactment at the first sign of racism. When one threatens the other with a machete, they halt the reenactment, concluding: “It’s racist. Very, very racist. Shame.”

In another sketch, Webb and Olivia Colman parody a makeover show and are confronted by a woman in a burqa. It then cuts to Webb discussing whether the sketch is offensive, with the woman in the burqa removing her garment to reveal Mitchell in Blackface.

In 2020, Cleese voiced his disapproval of a decision by BBC Studios-owned broadcaster UKTV to scrub an episode of classic British comedy Fawlty Towers from its back catalog.

UKTV removed “The Germans” from its Gold Box Set of downloadable programs, citing the fact that it contained “racial slurs.” UKTV was not specific about the slur, but it is believed to have been uttered by character The Major (Ballard Berkeley), who uses the n-word when referring to Caribbean sportsmen.

“The Major was an old fossil leftover from decades before. We were not supporting his views, we were making fun of them,” said Cleese. “If they can’t see that, if people are too stupid to see that, what can one say?”