John Cleese backtracks after saying he and ‘Monty Python’ co-star Eric Idle ‘despised’ each other

The incendiary war of words between “Monty Python” founding members John Cleese, 84, and Eric Idle, 80, has taken another turn — with Cleese calling for a ceasefire (of sorts).

The spat started over the weekend, when Idle went on a rant on X about still needing to work at his age — and took potshots at “Python” trouper Terry Gilliam and his daughter, Holly, who manages the “Python” brand.

“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 wrote. “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.”

Idle recently put his Hollywood Hills home on the market for $6.5 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

“I’m doing no more Python. I gave already. Ungrateful bastards,” Idle continued on X. “I still love and am proud of what we did as Python. It was a very unique group. I think of us as an ex-Liverpool team. We played together well. Way back in the day.

“But it was never very supportive of people’s feelings and emotions. Not Brothers. Colleagues.”

Cleese, in turn, then defended Holly Gilliam and sniped back at Idle.

“I have worked with Holly for the last 10 years and I find her very efficient, clear-minded, hard-working and pleasant to have dealings with,” he wrote — adding that fellow “Python” alum Michael Palin “has asked me to make it clear that he shares this opinion” and that “Terry Gilliam is also in agreement with this.”

After an X user asked Cleese if he and Idle had a falling out, he posted this salvo: “We always loathed and despised each other, but it’s only recently that the truth has begun to emerge.”

When the Press Association news outlet in the UK picked up on the “feud” between the Pythons, Cleese then fired back that his “loathed and despised each other” remark was taken out of context.

“I’ve just seen the Press Association release,” Cleese wrote. “They got it totally wrong. My remark about ‘loathing and despising each other.’ 1. Referred to all the members of the group. 2. Was a joke I would have expected PA staff to have 1. An understanding of irony 2. A sense of humour.

“Explaining a joke kills it,” he continued. “And… making a joke too obvious kills it too. The requirement for surprise means that the listener has to make a small mental leap to ‘get’ it. Too big a jump and they won’t get it. Too little, and it becomes too obvious. Tricky.”

Idle then posted a somewhat conciliatory remark about Cleese.

“I never said he wasn’t funny,” he wrote on X. “He was. Hilarious. 61 years.”