John Cleese Responds To Eric Idle Slam: “We Always Loathed And Despised Each Other”

John Cleese is making it clear that he – and a few other Pythons – are in complete disagreement with long-ago co-star Eric Idle, who last weekend slammed manager (and daughter of Python co-founder Terry Gilliam) Holly Gilliam for what Idle suggested were the troupe’s dwindling finances.

“We own everything we ever made in Python and I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously,” Idle posted on X/Twitter Saturday. “But I guess if you put a Gilliam child in as your manager you should not be so surprised. One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can take out any company.”

Cleese left no doubt where he stands on the matter.

“I have worked with Holly for the last ten years,” the Fawlty Towers creator tweeted today, “and I find her very efficient, clear-minded,hard-working, and pleasant to have dealings with.”

Cleese continued, “Michael Palin has asked me to to make it clear that he shares this opinion. Terry Gilliam is also in agreement with this.”

Apparently there’s no love lost between Cleese and Idle, with the latter responding, when asked by an X follower if the two remain close, “I haven’t seen Cleese for seven years.” When another follower replied saying that made him sad, Idle responded, “Why. It makes me happy.”

Today, Cleese responded with an assessment so blunt some followers wondered if it was all a gag: “We always loathed and despised each other, but it’s only recently that the truth has begun to emerge.”

Gag or not, Cleese’s comment is in line with a post by Idle’s daughter Lily, who wrote, “I’m so proud of my dad for finally starting to share the truth. He has always stood up to bullies and narcissists and absolutely deserves reassurance and validation for doing so.”

The X back-and-forth started when Idle posted that, at 80, he still has to “work for my living.”

“I don’t know why people always assume we’re loaded,” he wrote. “Python is a disaster. Spamalot made money 20 years ago. I have to work for my living. Not easy at this age.” He added, “We own everything we ever made in Python and I never dreamed that at this age the income streams would tail off so disastrously. But I guess if you put a Gilliam child in as your manager you should not be so surprised. One Gilliam is bad enough. Two can take out any company.”

Holly Gilliam runs HDG Projects, which manages Python and helped stage Monty Python Live (mostly) – One Down Five to Go, the group’s 2014 reunion shows in London.

Idle also took issue with Netflix after a follower suggested that the streaming giant should make a documentary about Python. “Fuck Netflix and fuck documentaries,” Idle replied.

Idle co-founded Python in 1969 alongside Graham Chapman, Cleese, Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.

Read the Pythons’ posts below.