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Graham Norton comes for John Cleese’s “cancel culture” comments—but don’t quote him on it!

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Graham Norton would rather not be in the headlines, but here we are…

Recently, the TV host/RuPaul’s Drag Race UK judge/Eurovision commentator extraordinaire was a featured guest at England’s Cheltenham Literature Festival, where he sat down for a live interview with journalist Mariella Frostrup.

The conversation touched on a wide range of topics, but it’s Norton’s comments on cancel culture—and why he’d rather not be centralized in that conversation—that have ironically gotten the internet’s attention.

In a clip shared by Times Radio, the host shares his confusion over certain public figures decrying cancel culture: “In what world are you canceled? I’m reading your article in the newspaper,” he says with a laugh. “The word is the wrong word. The word should be accountability.”

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It’s at this point that Norton brings up John Cleese, who’s made quite a few headlines himself recently, for all the wrong reasons. (As our colleagues at INTO put it, the Monty Python comedian has “gone to the dark side.”)

“It must be very hard to be a man of a certain age,” says Norton in reference to Cleese, “who’s been able to say whatever he’d like for years. And now, suddenly, there’s some accountability. It’s free speech, but not consequence free.”

When Frostup then brings up censorship and J.K. Rowling—who Norton recently interviewed on his radio show—the host gets honest about the media cycle around these exact kinds of conversations.

“What I feel weird about this is, when I’m ask about it, then I become part of the discussion,” he tells the journalist. “And all I’m painfully aware of, is that my voice adds nothing to that discussion, and I’m sort of embarrassed that I’m somehow drawn into it.”

We hope Graham accepts our apologies for drawing him into it yet again. But he makes some good points!

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He continues: “If people want to shine a light on those issues—and I hope people do—then talk to trans people, talk to the parents of trans kids, talk to doctors, talk to psychiatrists, talk to someone who can illuminate this in some way.”

“I’m very aware that, as ‘bloke off the telly,’ your voice can be artificially amplified. And, once in a blue moon, that can be good. But, most of the time, that’s just a distraction,” he astutely observes “You can put my name in a headline—you know, ‘Graham Norton slams,’ ‘Graham Norton defends,’ Graham Norton weighs in on’—and actually Graham Norton shouldn’t be in your headline.”

Graham, again, we know what our headline above looks like, but just know we’re using it to draw attention to your thoughtful critique!

“If you want to talk about something, talk about the thing. You don’t need to attach a Kardashian, or a whatever to a serious subject—the subject should be enough in itself,” he declares.

“Please, can we have some experts! Can we rustle up some f*cking experts and talk to them rather than a man in a shiny pink suit”—or Cleese, or Rowling, for that matter. Amen, Norton!

The Times Radio clip has garnered a lot of attention on Twitter, where Norton’s name has been trending a full 24 hours after the original post. Now, sure, being a trending top probably runs counter to the points he was trying to make, but folks are taking notice, and sharing his important message:

You can watch Norton’s full chat with Mariella Frostrup at the Cheltenham Literature Festival below:

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