John Cleese and Eric Idle are continuing to duke it out on social media.
The Monty Python legends exchanged barbs earlier this year, locking horns over their estrangement after Idle complained that he still had to work because Python’s earnings had dried up.
Idle blamed the mismanagement of the Python brand on Terry Gilliam and his daughter, Holly. The latter runs HDG Projects, which manages Python and helped stage Monty Python Live (mostly) – One Down Five to Go, the group’s 2014 reunion shows at the O2 in London.
Now, in a fresh post on X (once Twitter), Idle has accused Cleese of firing former manager Jim Beach and installing Holly. He said this was the reason their relationship was “over.”
Cleese fired back on the same platform, accusing Idle of “invention.” He added: “Jim, who was an old friend of mine from Cambridge days, became Python manager after the O2 show. About four years ago he suffered a bad stroke and subsequently resigned as our manager. His number 2, Holly Gilliam, automatically took over as Python manager.”
Sad thing really. Never really liked the attitude of Idle much, bit full of himself.
Then again Cleese’s flirtation with his inner Basil Fawlty persona (he kind of gels with prickish characters and it’s solidified with age).
I’m sort if glad Chapman didn’t live to be in this era, as he might have embraced the mad and absurdist frantic polarization and be broken by it like Lineham.
I very much prefer Palin, sitting out in old age and not yelling on social media.