Dame Maureen Lipman: Cancel culture could ‘wipe out’ comedy

Dame Maureen Lipman has claimed that so-called “cancel culture” has left society “on the cusp of wiping out comedy.”

Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, the Jewish actress said:“This cancel culture, this punishment, it’s everywhere. You know, an eye for an eye. ‘You said that, therefore, you must never work again.’ We’re on the cusp of wiping out comedy.”

The Coronation Street star added:” “I think it’s a revolution, I think it’s in the balance whether we’re ever going to be funny again.

“It’s a bit like laughter in church, something has to be forbidden to make you really laugh, to make you really belly laugh. It’s when you shouldn’t be laughing. And so, therefore, all the things that are being cancelled out are, I’m afraid, the things that have always made people laugh.”

Lipman, who did not give any examples of where this had happened, was challenged over his views by the comedian Russell Kane who told the BBC it was “complete nonsense” to suggest comedians were self-censoring.

He added:“I don’t think anyone is saying you can’t be offended, nobody is saying that.

“What we’re saying is you can’t use hate speech that would prompt a gender-related crime, a sex-related crime or a race-related crime.

“There’s been a massive, much needed shift in the conversation around gender, around men’s attitudes to women, around consent. Society has moved on.”