Monty Python’s Terry Gilliam: ‘I’m a black transgender lesbian’

US-British director Terry Gilliam attends on May 19, 2018 the closing ceremony of the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP) (Photo credit should read ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images)

Monty Python star Terry Gilliam has hit out at efforts to increase diversity, renouncing his status as a white man to become “a black lesbian in transition.”

The 77-year-old actor was responding to the BBC’s controller of comedy commissioning, Shane Allen, who last month answered a question about Monty Python’s Flying Circus by saying: “If you’re going to assemble a team now, it’s not going to be six Oxbridge white blokes.

“It’s going to be a diverse range of people who reflect the modern world.”

British-US director Terry Gilliam poses on May 19, 2018 during a photocall for the film "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" at the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. (Photo by Loic VENANCE / AFP)        (Photo credit should read LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images)

Gilliam has sparked outrage before, with inflammatory comment about the #MeToo movement (LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty)

Gilliam reacted to this statement with comments similar to those of Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan, who last year addressed non-binary and gender-neutral issues by saying: “I now identify as a black non-binary.”

The British actor told an audience at the Karlovy Vary film festival in Czech Republic: “It made me cry: the idea that… no longer six white Oxbridge men can make a comedy show,” The Guardian has reported.

“Now we need one of this, one of that, everybody represented… this is bulls**t,” continued Gilliam.

British-US director Terry Gilliam (L) waves as US actor Adam Driver looks on during a press conference  on May 19, 2018 for the film "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote" at the 71st edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. (Photo by Laurent EMMANUEL / AFP)        (Photo credit should read LAURENT EMMANUEL/AFP/Getty Images)

Gilliam with actor Adam Driver (LAURENT EMMANUEL/AFP/Getty)

“I no longer want to be a white male, I don’t want to be blamed for everything wrong in the world: I tell the world now I’m a black lesbian… My name is Loretta and I’m a BLT, a black lesbian in transition.”

After this sandwich-themed reference, he added that Allen’s remarks “made me so angry, all of us so angry. Comedy is not assembled, it’s not like putting together a boy band where you put together one of this, one of that.”

Gillian, who has directed films including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, previously sparked outrage by comparing the #MeToo movement to “mob rule,” saying that “the mob is out there, they are carrying their torches and they are going to burn down Frankenstein’s castle.”

British film director Terry Gilliam and Portuguese actress Joana Ribeiro pose during a photocall before a screening of their film ''The man who killed Don Quixote'' at the 53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) in  on July 04, 2018 Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. (Photo by Michal CIZEK / AFP)        (Photo credit should read MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images)

Gilliam poses with Portuguese actress Joana Ribeiro (MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty)

The extent to which Morgan and Gilliam seemingly share the same opinions was made clear last year when the TV host lashed at genderfluid children by saying: “You can identify as a giraffe as you want.”

He later added: “We’re all going to be giraffes.”


That wasn’t even the first time that Morgan had compared trans people to animals.

Six months before his giraffe remarks, he asked non-binary guests Fox Fisher and Owl if he could identify as an elephant.

Morgan has made numerous disparaging comments about trans people (good morning britain/YouTube)

“My problem with everyone being able to identify as they choose is: where does that end?” he asked the couple.

“If kids can come in and say they’re not a boy or girl anymore, what else can they say they’re not?

“Is anything fine? Can I say I’m an elephant? I don’t think it’s silly,” he added.