The actor, also famous for his role as Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, made the comments in relation to his perception of Scottish influence in the English press.
Cleese tweeted:
Why do we let half-educated tenement Scots run our English press? Because their craving for social status makes them obedient retainers? https://t.co/uCXEvbZssE
— John Cleese (@JohnCleese) October 2, 2016
But the comment was quickly rounded with Cleese being accused of racism by a series of angry Twitter users.
Replace the words "tenement Scots" with, for example, "slum Pakistanis" and see how this reads. https://t.co/U4fmdpd8qs
— James Cook (@BBCJamesCook) October 3, 2016
@JohnCleese @DavidPuckridge I hope your happy that you've ruined any future viewing of my collection Python videos with this casual racism
— Kenny McLean (@Kenny4PartickW) October 2, 2016
Some even accused the Conservative party of pushing an anti-Scottish narrative at the last UK general election in 2015. They warned of the dangers of the SNP playing a role in the government by hanging massive billboards depicting Labour leader Ed Miliband in Alex Salmond's pocket.
RT CCHQPress "Miliband's only route to Downing St is in Alex Salmond's pocket- he's named his price & taxpayers wi… pic.twitter.com/C0PNVibOIG"
— Stephen Mold (@Stephen_Mold) March 28, 2015
Even burger giant McDonald's has recently been accused of being prejudiced against Scots after a decision to ban Scottish banknotes from a string of branches in England.
An owner of ten branches in the Lincolnshire area ordered staff to refuse to take Scottish notes due to issues with counterfeit notes. This led to calls on social media for a boycott of the chain.
Good time to go Vegetarian 'Scottish banknotes banned from McDonalds franchise'
— CYBERSCOT (@CYBERSCOT) September 21, 2016
via Ella Jamison https://t.co/UxF1ACAWws
However, a spokeswoman for McDonald's was quick to emphasize that the policy was not "anti-Scottish" but was instead just "a decision taken by a franchisee, based on a number of factors."
