John Cleese slammed on Twitter over bizarre comments 'mocking' the Irish language
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John Cleese slammed on Twitter over bizarre comments 'mocking' the Irish language

JOHN CLEESE has once again found himself in hot water on Twitter after making misjudged comments about the Irish language.

The British actor and comedian, who faced backlash last month for tweeting that London was "not really an English city any more", sparked fresh controversy this weekend by criticising the Gaelic spelling system.

Cleese, 79, wrote: "I love your use of words! But, seriously, if an Irish 'bh' is a 'v' sound, why don't you write it with a 'v'? Of course, Bernard Shaw pointed out that in English, the word 'Fish' could be spelled G-H-O-T-I".

The Monty Python comic had earlier tweeted that Irish names looked like "deliberate attempts to mislead innocent people".

When one user pulled him up on his "Anglocentric" view of language, he added: "True, and I do realise that the Gaelocentric viewpoint is dominant in the rest of the world."

Hundreds of other users were quick to remind the Fawlty Towers star that the English language is rife with words that make little phonetic sense.

Game of Thrones star Liam Cunningham replied: "Why isn't phonetic spelt phonetically?"

Irish comedy duo The Rubberbandits wrote: "Because the British tried to eradicate our language through colonization, so we prefer not to further anglicise it by our own volition."

One commenter pointed out that "English pronunciations are absolutely inconsistent", adding: "Also, why are English speakers constantly mocking/giving their hot takes about Irish, often with zero knowledge of the language? You've done enough".

And another poked fun at Cleese's hypocrisy with the succinctly genius jab: "Ok Jon Cleez."