Director Terry Gilliam is taking heat online for remarks he’s made about diversity.

The former Monty Python star was asked about a recent comment from the BBC’s head of comedy Shane Allen.

Allen said that if the comedy troupe were to form now, ‘it’s not going to be six Oxbridge white blokes. It’s going to be a diverse range of people who reflect the modern world’.

Speaking at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Gilliam replied: “You know I no longer want to be a white male and be blamed for everything; I tell the world I am a BLGT, Black Lesbian in Transition and my name is Loretta.

“Comedy is not assembled – a boy, a girl, white, black, a dog… I want to be trans-species. Transgender is not enough.”

It’s not gone down that well.

Can we just staple Terry Gilliam’s mouth shut? #lostthewrongpython — Thor Sexy Pirate Angel (@TommyP84) July 5, 2018





Go away Terry Gilliam. If you can't handle being a privileged white dude, how you gonna handle a day in the life of a black woman, much less a black lesbian? https://t.co/8YtOyxAI6Z — suncup ☠ (@sandeepity) July 5, 2018





Terry Gilliam on diversity: 'I tell the world now I’m a black lesbian' https://t.co/x1V6PWKJ6U Oh dear. This is a very unfortunate response. It's so very disappointing. — Emmeline Spankhurts is tired 🍸 (@mm_ssssshh) July 5, 2018





I doubt Terry Gilliam could say anything shitty enough to ruin his (good) movies for me, but apparently he's going to try. I think the worst part is that such a creative voice can age into an old crank in such a boring, ordinary way. — Bob Chipman (@the_moviebob) July 5, 2018





Apparently Terry Gilliam knew someone who’d once talked to Morrissey and that was enough to get infected. Please be aware of the spread of EAS (Entitled Arsehole Syndrome), the first signs are a lack of perspective and acting persecuted when actually they’re not. https://t.co/l6y5VTyK0Q — Pretty Hat Machine (@PrettyHatMech) July 5, 2018





I feel bad for Terry Gilliam, it must be so hard being a white man 😐 — Mehul Desai (@TechNoirUK) July 5, 2018





Just Terry Gilliam being a desperately out-of-touch old prick — 4 8 15 16 23 42 (@paulSDMCR) July 5, 2018





Wowow what happened to Terry Gilliam jeeez — Seva à l'ammoniaque (@historianon) July 5, 2018





Terry Gilliam, bravely taking a stand against being told old white dudes keep co-opting things and offending people, co-opts things to offend people. https://t.co/X2DceZm6sC — Natalie'Zorah (@TerraSirena) July 5, 2018





I'd be more upset about Terry Gilliam acting like a douchebag if he'd made a good movie in the last two decades. — Ian Crosby Stills Nash & Young Danskin (@InnuendoStudios) July 5, 2018





Gilliam was in the Czech Republic shopping his new movie The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, explaining that, contrary to reports, it will be hitting cinemas across Europe soon.

The film has been the centre of a legal battle between Gilliam and a former producer, who claims that he owns the rights.

Paulo Branco says that he signed a contract which means the film belongs to him, but Gilliam says that because he never produced any money, that contract then became void.

“It is about to be released broadly in Holland and Belgium,” he told The Hollywood Reporter.

“I think Cannes changed things. Paolo just went too far – ‘I will tell the festival not to show it’… It seems things are floating along nicely, although he did scare a lot of people away at one point.

“The Paris court did not exactly rule in [Branco’s] favour. It just did not change the very early ruling about a technicality. The press is saying that I have lost my rights – which is not true as I am the director and it is the producers that own the rights; for example Jeremy Thomas owns the rights to the script.”

The project, which stars Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver, has been decades in gestation.

It originally starred Johnny Depp and the late French actor Jean Rocheforte, but the production was dogged with bad luck, from torrential storms to NATO jets buzzing the set.

Read more

Sacha Baron Cohen planning Trump movie?

Miles Teller for Top Gun 2

The most shocking Handmaid’s Tale moments