'Can't wait to be arrested': John Cleese formally reported to UK's 'counter-terrorism' regime for criticizing Islam

Anti-woke comedian John Cleese has infuriated leftists and Islamists alike with his public criticism of Islam and mass migration.

Now it appears that some of those offended by the "Monty Python" co-founder's commentary want him shut up for good.

'Tell the police to contact my agent.'

Muslim activists campaigned last month to pressure Birmingham Town Call to cancel Cleese's Sept. 20 comedy show.

After the censorious radicals failed, Cleese was referred to Prevent — the government-run "counter-terrorism" program coordinated by the U.K. Home Office that is supposedly "designed to support people away from radicalisation before they commit an offence" — over his opinions about Muslims, Islam, and associated threats.

According to the Sept. 22 complaint that was first reported by 5Pillars — an English-language Muslim publication run by a Islamic propagandist who previously worked for Saudi, Qatari, and Iranian-funded media — Cleese's commentary on social media allegedly meets "several indicators used in PREVENT risk assessments for anti-Muslim hate and counter-extremism concerns" and claims that such commentary risks setting the stage for "radicalisation, communal tension, and hate incidents."

The complaint highlights multiple examples of online activity where Cleese allegedly "demonises, dehumanises, and collectively attributes violence and criminality to Muslims and Islam," including an April 27 post where he stated that halal food is "a barbaric custom and English law should not allow it" and his March 31 post stating that "to criticize a culture whose holy book advocates the killing of all the people they disagree with ... is not racist."

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Amanda Stronza/Getty Images for SXSW

The complainant, whose identity has not been publicly disclosed, alleged that "these statements go beyond criticism of ideas and attach intrinsic criminality, violence, and moral depravity to a religious group."

Cleese — who has emphasized that "criticism of Islam is not racist, it's culturalist" — does not appear too cut up about the complaint or the possibility the state will take action against him.

The 86-year-old comedian tweeted on Monday, "I can't wait to be arrested."

"This is a real life sitcom!" he continued. "Please tell the police to contact my agent."

He noted in a separate post about the complaint, "The Islamic male ego becomes so bloated by its lack of restraint that it believes any criticism is blasphemy."

Suella Braverman — the former home secretary who caused a stir in 2023 by acknowledging that multiculturalism "has failed because it allowed people to come to our society and live parallel lives in it" — condemned using the counterterrorism regime to silence criticism of Islam.

"Prevent is supposed to identify potential terror threats and interrupt them through deradicalisation," wrote Braverman Tuesday. "Not to silence legitimate comment or debate about Islam. If progressed, this referral will really expose how broken our counter-terrorism system is and that a blasphemy law has been re-introduced into the U.K. by the backdoor."

Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch, noted, "The government is likely to take this quite seriously, for to do otherwise might risk enraging the nation’s Muslim population, and that is what they want to avoid doing above all. What, however, did Cleese say that was not true? And that is the problem with all 'Islamophobia' initiatives: they make it a crime to tell unwelcome truths."

The Free Speech Union stressed that the government's assurances that the official definition of "Islamophobia" would not adversely impact Britons' free speech turned out to have been meaningless and that "Mr Cleese is not alone in being targeted by those who wish to silence legitimate criticism of Islam, its history, or its practices."

The union noted, for instance, that Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe was reported last month to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards — responsible for investigating alleged breaches of House of Commons Code of Conduct and Registers — over his criticism of Pakistani Muslim rape gangs and "the islamification of Britain."

In July, Afzal Khan, a Pakistan-born Labour member of parliament, also submitted a complaint about Lowe to the commission, concern-mongering about the conservative lawmaker's criticism of the state's apparent tolerance of Sharia courts.

Cleese has advocated for Lowe's Restore Britain ascendant political party, which seeks to deport millions of migrants from the isles.

"The ability to criticise, debate, challenge, and mock a religion is a fundamental right in Britain. It is not extremism. Parliament voted to abolish our blasphemy laws in 2008, eighteen years ago, but we now have one for Islam alone, said the Free Speech Union.

Blaze News did not immediately receive a response from Prevent.