‘A politically correct era’: Paul Hogan says ‘the cancel culture’s for cretins’

Actor Paul Hogan has described himself as the ‘livin’ picture of political incorrectness’ and said the cancel culture, which is seeing programs and episodes cut from TV due to outdated or offensive content, is “for cretins”.

The 80-year-old, who is famously known for his starring role in Crocodile Dundee, said while he understands why some people may be sensitive to certain things, there’s no denying we’re in a “politically correct era”.

Speaking to The Weekend Australian this week, the comedian said he’s anti-racist and pro-same-sex marriage, but there’s some things in the modern world, that he simply doesn’t agree with, including the cancel culture. Over the past month, episodes of TV programs, such as Fawlty Towers have been removed from air as support for the Black Lives Matter movement both in Australia and overseas continues to grow.

Fellow actors, such as the show’s on star John Cleese have slammed the decision, claiming if people can’t see they weren’t supporting the racist views of his character in the show, they are stupid. And Hogan has agreed, telling the Weekend Australian he thinks the cancel culture “is for cretins”.

Even at one point admitting: “I am the livin’ picture of political correctness.”

“I know what people might be sensitive about,” he told the publication. “Sexist is the most common [accusation] against me. But, I don’t think I ever did anything with any sort of malice. Some people are hypersensitive but it’s understandable I guess. Everything changes as time goes on and we are in the politically correct era.”

His comments come weeks after actor John Cleese slammed the decision to remove an episode of Fawlty Towers from an on-demand streaming service owned by the BBC. 

The episode in question, was titled ‘The Germans, and was taken down on Thursday amid ongoing debate around the removal of outdated or offensive content from entertainment platforms, as support for the Black Lives Matter movement both in Australia and overseas continues to grow.

UKTV, which is run by the British public broadcaster, confirmed the decision was made to pull the final episode of the first season because it contains racial slurs. However, the on-demand service went on to say that it’s still considering its option about whether to permanently remove the episode.

The announcement caused a lot of tension across the world, with people divided over whether or not it was the right decision to make. While actor John Cleese, who played the main character on the show Basil Fawlty, shared his own views on the axing of the episode.

Speaking exclusively to The Sydney Morning Herald, the 80-year-old said people have very different senses of humour and just because his character said certain things, doesn’t mean he agrees with those views.

“Some of them understand that if you put nonsense words into the mouth of someone you want to make fun of you’re not broadcasting their views, you’re making fun of them,” he told the publication. “The Major was an old fossil left over from decades before. We were not supporting his views, we were making fun of them. If they can’t see that, if people are too stupid to see that, what can one say?”