John Cleese would like everyone to know he's "not that interested" in transgender people

Is there something about being famous that breaks your brain in such a way that you think you—and only you—should be allowed to say whatever you want without any repercussions? Or is that exclusive to celebrities who believe that people are less deserving of basic human rights than other people? Or is it a social media thing, and everyone thinks they should be allowed to say whatever they want and are shocked to discover that some people might take offense at their openly offensive comments?

Either way, John Cleese has won this weekend’s Just Shut The Fuck Up prize, which, as we all know, is awarded to people who have something stupid to say and refuse to simply shut the fuck up about it. This all seems to have started with someone asking Cleese why he made a point to sign a letter of solidarity with J.K. Rowling over her right to say transphobic bullshit without being held accountable for it. Cleese tip-toed around saying whether or not he agrees with her awful opinions, but repeatedly took up Twitter arms against the cruel “humorless” monster of “wokery.” Someone then asked why he can’t “just let people be who they want to be,” to which he responded that he wants to be a “Cambodian police woman” and asked if that’s “allowed.”

So it’s the same bad-faith bullshit that people always say when they want everyone to know how they feel about transgender people, but Cleese put a finer point on it when another Twitter user asked him to just be upfront about it. His response: “I’m afraid I’m not that interested in trans folks.”