John Cleese gets thoroughly schooled by a geneticist over comments about race and DNA

Actor John Cleese refuses to back down on comments he made about culture in London, and his latest tweet has drawn the ire of a geneticist.

Cleese had said: "London was not really an English city anymore."

Some years ago I opined that London was not really an English city any more. Since then, virtually all my friends from abroad have confirmed my observation

So there must be some truth in it...

I note also that London was the UK city that voted most strongly to remain in the EU

As we covered last week, Labour MP David Lammy challenged Cleese "to not define Englishness by DNA".

Everyone thought it would be the end of misinformed tweets from Cleese.

It wasn’t.

A few days later he posted a response to Lammy, writing: “A very likeable Labour MP called Davis [sic] Lammy wants to tell me that Englishness is not defined by DNA

“I do know that, David. I've known it a very long time

“That's why I make a clear distinction between race and culture. Race is defined by DNA; culture isn't.”

Actually, no.

Dr Adam Rutherford, a geneticist, interjected and corrected the actor once and for all ​t

There is no definition of race that corresponds with variation in DNA. Race is not defined by DNA. We’ve known this for quite some time now, and I’m happy to send you my last book which explains this in detail.

Others waded in to correct Cleese...

Stop it.

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