Latest
40 minutes agoParalympian Veteran Waited 5 Years for a Wheelchair Lift. She Says Canada Offered Her Assisted Death.43 minutes agoGlenview Teen Shot Dead at Home: Sheriff Says Evidence Is There, Cook County Still Won’t Charge1 hour agoRhode Island Ruled Him Incompetent for 23 Years and Let Him Walk. Now a Toddler Was Stabbed in Her Stroller.1 hour agoHistorian Recounts Digging Through a Building Floor on Tarawa to Bring 11 Missing Americans Home1 hour agoHe Says He Refused a DNR for His Wife Five Times. The Hospital Put It on Her Chart Anyway.6 hours agoIDF Kills Hamas Weapons Commander Who Infiltrated Israel on October 77 hours agoTrump Calls Zelensky ‘P.T. Barnum,’ Says Biden-Era Missiles Were ‘Sold on the Open Market’7 hours agoNew Jersey Deputy Attorney General Charged With Using AI to Create and Share Child Sexual Abuse Material9 hours agoPowder-Filled Letters Hit Election Offices in at Least 15 States and Senate Offices Weeks Before the Midterms12 hours agoArmed Community Member Stopped Oregon School Gunman Within Minutes. Even CNN Said ‘Thank God for That Person.’16 hours agoNew York Renter Blames MAGA for Her $4,000 Studio. Democrats Hold 46 of 51 City Council Seats.20 hours agoPentagon Drafts Iran Strike Plans That Could Include the ‘Mother of All Bombs,’ CNN Reports40 minutes agoParalympian Veteran Waited 5 Years for a Wheelchair Lift. She Says Canada Offered Her Assisted Death.43 minutes agoGlenview Teen Shot Dead at Home: Sheriff Says Evidence Is There, Cook County Still Won’t Charge1 hour agoRhode Island Ruled Him Incompetent for 23 Years and Let Him Walk. Now a Toddler Was Stabbed in Her Stroller.1 hour agoHistorian Recounts Digging Through a Building Floor on Tarawa to Bring 11 Missing Americans Home1 hour agoHe Says He Refused a DNR for His Wife Five Times. The Hospital Put It on Her Chart Anyway.6 hours agoIDF Kills Hamas Weapons Commander Who Infiltrated Israel on October 77 hours agoTrump Calls Zelensky ‘P.T. Barnum,’ Says Biden-Era Missiles Were ‘Sold on the Open Market’7 hours agoNew Jersey Deputy Attorney General Charged With Using AI to Create and Share Child Sexual Abuse Material9 hours agoPowder-Filled Letters Hit Election Offices in at Least 15 States and Senate Offices Weeks Before the Midterms12 hours agoArmed Community Member Stopped Oregon School Gunman Within Minutes. Even CNN Said ‘Thank God for That Person.’16 hours agoNew York Renter Blames MAGA for Her $4,000 Studio. Democrats Hold 46 of 51 City Council Seats.20 hours agoPentagon Drafts Iran Strike Plans That Could Include the ‘Mother of All Bombs,’ CNN Reports
John Cleese was reported to Britain's counter-terror program for criticizing Islam

John Cleese Reported to Britain’s Counter-Terror Program Over Islam Posts. He Says He Looks Forward to Arrest.

by
M.A. Rothman

By M.A. RothmanOctober 1, 2026 · 4 min read
𝕏f

John Cleese has been referred to Prevent, Britain’s counter-extremism program, over his social media posts criticizing Islam. The Monty Python co-founder’s answer was to tell the world he looks forward to being arrested.

The referral, dated Sept. 22, 2026, and submitted by a member of the public, was made public on Sept. 30 by 5Pillars, a British Muslim news site that has been criticizing the 86-year-old comedian’s posts since at least August. It does not accuse him of plotting anything, joining anything or threatening anyone. It accuses him of having opinions.

What the referral says

According to 5Pillars, which published details of the document, the complaint claims Cleese has engaged in a sustained pattern of online activity that “demonises, dehumanises, and collectively attributes violence and criminality to Muslims and Islam.” It says his posts meet “several indicators used in PREVENT risk assessments for anti-Muslim hate and counter-extremism concerns” and warns they risk contributing to “radicalisation, communal tension, and hate incidents.”

The evidence is a list of posts. The referral cites a March 31 post in which Cleese referred to “a culture whose holy book advocates the killing of all the people they disagree with,” an April 27 post in which he called a religious practice “a barbaric custom” across “about 60 Muslim countries,” and a July 18 repost of content describing Islam as “the religion of paedophiles.” It also flags what it calls “Collective Attribution / Essentialism.” The complainant’s verdict: “These statements go beyond criticism of ideas and attach intrinsic criminality, violence, and moral depravity to a religious group.”

Cleese has a different word for himself. On Aug. 11, after 5Pillars questioned his comments and highlighted tour dates in cities with large Muslim populations, he posted: “I am Islamosceptic, not Islamophobic.” His argument, as even 5Pillars summarizes it, is that he criticizes Islam, Islamic practices and parts of Muslim culture, not Muslims as people, and that it is no different from the way Monty Python’s Life of Brian mocked Christianity.

“I look forward to being arrested”

Cleese did not apologize. On Sept. 29, quoting a post about the referral, he wrote: “The Islamic male ego becomes so bloated by its lack of restraint that it believes any criticism is blasphemy. I look forward to being arrested.”

The next day, quoting a post that began “Criticise Islam, get reported,” he added: “One of the proudest moments of my life. I would like to thank everyone concerned.” When a supporter shared a 5Pillars graphic about the case, he replied, by 5Pillars’ own account, “How exciting.”

He has backup. Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman said Prevent was meant “to identify potential terror threats and interrupt them through deradicalisation,” not “to silence legitimate comment or debate about Islam.” She warned that “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 UK by the backdoor.” The Free Speech Union said the right to “criticise, debate, challenge and mock a religion is a fundamental right in Britain” and offered to help him. Independent MP Rupert Lowe, who says he has also been reported over his comments about Islam, offered: “Maybe we can share a cell, @JohnCleese?”

What Prevent is supposed to be

Prevent is not a speech code. Britain’s counter-terrorism police describe it as a government-led program that “aims to stop individuals becoming terrorists,” the preventative arm of the Home Office’s CONTEST counter-terrorism strategy. Many referrals, the police note, end with no further police action.

That is the whole problem. A program built to catch young men drifting toward jihad is now being used to file paperwork on an elderly comedian for calling a practice barbaric. As Paulina Enck argued in a Sept. 30 Daily Wire opinion column, Prevent’s mandate, combined with Britain’s weak free speech protections, “functionally allows the department to be used as a censorship cudgel against opinions” that run against left-leaning trends. Every hour Prevent spends on John Cleese’s posts is an hour not spent on an actual threat. And the process itself is a warning to everyone with fewer fans and less money than Cleese: say this, and you get reported.

Even 5Pillars concedes that there is no suggestion Cleese faces prison because of a Prevent referral. But it doesn’t have to lead to prison to work. In Britain, the referral is the punishment.

Britain has done this before

Cleese has reason to take it seriously. Graham Linehan, co-creator of Father Ted, was detained by armed officers at Heathrow in September 2025 after a flight from Arizona and held at a police station for 12 hours over three gender-critical posts on X. The investigation was later dropped. In July 2026, the Guardian reported, the Metropolitan Police paid him £25,000 in compensation and apologized, saying it recognized “the considerable distress caused to Mr Linehan.” The Met said the case prompted it to stop investigating so-called non-crime hate incidents.

That apology came only after a man spent half a day in custody over posts on social media. It is a strange kind of justice that arrests first and apologizes 10 months later.

In the United States, the First Amendment protects every post Cleese wrote, however much his critics hate them. Americans can criticize Islam, Christianity, Judaism or any other faith without a government counter-terrorism program opening a file. The Cleese referral is a reminder of what it looks like when a country does not have that protection, and of why Americans should never let anyone talk them into a “hate speech” exception.

Britain built a program to stop terrorists, and now it is being aimed at the man behind the Ministry of Silly Walks.

Sources

More from The Rothman Report

She waited five years for a wheelchair lift. She says Veterans Affairs offered assisted dying.Paralympian Veteran Waited 5 Years for a Wheelchair Lift. She Says Canada Offered Her Assisted Death.The sheriff says there's enough evidence. Cook County prosecutors still won't charge anyone.Glenview Teen Shot Dead at Home: Sheriff Says Evidence Is There, Cook County Still Won’t ChargeRuled incompetent for 23 years and set free, he's now charged with stabbing a toddlerRhode Island Ruled Him Incompetent for 23 Years and Let Him Walk. Now a Toddler Was Stabbed in Her Stroller.