Rowan Atkinson takes fire at the rise of cancel culture describing keyboard warriors to a ‘medieval mob’

The actor Rowan Atkinson, most famous for playing Mr Bean and Jonny English has taken fire at the rise of cancel culture and has compared online keyboard warriors to a “medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn”. 

Mr Atkinson has undertaken an interview with the Radio Times where he has blamed social media platforms for increased levels of division and has said that they make him fearful for the future of freedom of speech.

Mr Atkinson has said: “The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society. It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be ‘cancelled’”. 

Rowan Atkinson blasts the do-gooder online social media mobs who call for dissenters to be ‘cancelled’, comparing them to medieval gangs who burned heretics at the stake.

It’s not the first time he’s defended free speech. At least someone still has some common sense!

— Leave.EU (@LeaveEUOfficial) January 5, 2021

He went on to say: “It’s important that we’re exposed to a wide spectrum of opinion, but what we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn. So, it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future”. 

Hints were also dropped at plans to revive his iconic BBC comedy Blackadder. He said that it was “certainly not impossible” for Blackadder to return after more than 30 years and confirmed there have been talks about a new series. He also said: “That’s about as optimistic as I can be and I’d rather not speculate on when it could be set”.

[give_form id=”1772″ show_title=”false” show_goal=”false” show_content=”above” display_style=”button”]