Rowan Atkinson has hit back at “Cancel Culture,” insisting that in a free society, comedians should be allowed to joke about “absolutely anything.”
Mr Bean-Star, 67, said the comedy’s purpose was “to have the potential to offend”, arguing that humor is made to make someone look “ridiculous”.
He said he thinks people should be careful about putting restrictions on what comedians are allowed to joke about, while railing against the abandonment culture.
Free speech: Rowan Atkinson (pictured October 2018) has hit back at canceling culture, insisting comedians can joke about “absolutely anything”.
He told the Irish Times: “It seems to me that comedy’s job is to offend, or to have the potential to offend, and that potential cannot be taken from it, every joke has a victim.”
Rowan, who has worked in comedy for more than four decades, also addressed the suggestion that jokes should “hit” those in power and not be downward-pointing.
He added: “There are a lot of extremely smug and complacent people in the lower classes of society who also deserve to be raised. In a truly free society, you should be allowed to joke about absolutely anything.’
Regarding the role of social media, Rowan said the platform is taking jokes out of its original content to stir up trouble and said we’re still learning how to use technology.
Breaking culture: The 67-year-old Mr Bean-Star said the comedy’s purpose was “to have the potential to offend”, arguing that humor is made to make someone look “ridiculous”.
It’s not the first time Rowan has spoken out against the abandonment culture, having previously campaigned against laws that could restrict free speech and offensive language.
And in January 2021, he said social media filled him with “future anxiety” and had increased divisions in society and reduced tolerance.
He told the Radio Times: “The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to watch, which ultimately leads to a simplistic, binary view of society.
“Either you are with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be “canceled.”
“It’s important that we have a wide range of opinions, but what we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob that roamed the streets looking for someone to burn.
Restrictions: Rowan (pictured in 2018) said he thinks people should be careful about putting restrictions on what comedians can joke about
“So it’s scary for anyone who is a victim of this mob and it fills me with anxiety about the future.”
He added: “It’s very gratifying that people want to get in touch with Mr. Bean, but I don’t feel like being on social media. What happens there is a sideshow in my world.”
His latest comments come while he’s busy promoting his latest comedy Man Vs Bee, which airs on Netflix on Friday.
In the ten-part series, made up of snappy ten-minute episodes, Rowan plays Trevor, a man recruited by an agency to sit on the house for wealthy strangers Christian and Nina.
But the presence of a bee in the luxury home drives him increasingly insane, and after a series of disastrous attempts to silence her, the bee ends up in absolute carnage, and the bee buzzes off to Christian’s beloved jaguar.
Comedy: Rowan (pictured in Blackadder) has previously campaigned against laws that could restrict free speech and offensive language
“What starts as a minor inconvenience for Trevor becomes an obsession that leads to full-scale destruction,” Rowan told the Daily Mail’s weekend magazine.
“The bee is the catalyst for Trevor to destroy the house and car in various ways.”
Trevor is Rowan’s first new sitcom TV character since pompous Inspector Raymond Fowler in BBC comedy The Thin Blue Line almost 30 years ago, although it’s the creation that preceded him that most begs for comparison.
The hapless buffoon Mr Bean often found himself in the kind of absurd situations Trevor faces and Rowan acknowledged there is a similarity between the two.
“If I play a character without words — and Trevor doesn’t say much — you’ll see something reminiscent of Mr. Bean,” he said.
“There will be something that will remind you of him, and there are aspects of the story that are reminiscent of the kind of trouble Mr. Bean would get into.
“But Trevor is a more rounded character than Mr. Bean, who was a two-dimensional, self-serving anarchist. Trevor is more likable, so hopefully as he gets into more and more trouble, people will come after him.”
The Blackadder star also admitted that he doesn’t really enjoy filming TV shows but does enjoy rehearsing and seeing the end product.
“If you think of a television project as a sandwich, I like the bread, but I don’t like the meat in the middle,” he admitted.
New venture: His latest comments come while he’s busy promoting his latest comedy Man Vs Bee, which airs on Netflix on Friday
“I enjoy rehearsal time, I enjoy working on the script and I enjoy post-production. I relish the opportunity to assist with sound mixing and editing.
“The shooting part is awful in my opinion, but it’s something you have to do to tell the story. The irony is that’s the part I’m supposed to be good at.
“But I’m playing a unique character, so the pressure is on me to make the show work. This is accompanied by considerable stress, which is not nice.
“Whatever I do, I always think I can do better. I’ve felt that with every role I’ve played apart from Blackadder because there was a shared responsibility for it, so I felt like I shared the burden with others.
Hilarious: In the ten-part series, made up of snappy ten-minute episodes, Rowan plays Trevor, a man hired by an agency to be the house sitter for wealthy strangers Christian and Nina