‘Not a crime to have an opinion’ Jennifer Saunders blasts modern-day ‘small-mindedness’

Jennifer Saunders regrets not buying the bronze turkeys

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Jennifer Saunders, 62, is the latest celebrity to lash out at this modern-day society who are “offended by everything”, while admitting she wouldn’t get away with her sitcom Absolutely Fabulous alongside Joanna Lumley, in the “woke era” of sensitivity. The actress insisted “it’s not a crime” to have an opinion, sarcastically quipping that she still “remembers jokes” and that the “woke brigade” has ruined comedy.

It’s not a crime to have an opinion or say something

Jennifer Suanders

In a new interview, she addressed the joyless “small-mindedness” which would face the iconic BBC show today.

“What p*****s me off? Quite a lot of stuff actually,” she laughed.

“I get p*****d off by people and gentle criticism all the time.

“This is a modern thing, isn’t it? If someone says something it always has to be, ‘Oh, but sorry, you can’t say that’. I say, ‘Oh f**k off.'”

She added: “It’s not a crime to have an opinion or say something.

“It is always petty and small-mindedness that ps me off — bigotry and small-mindedness.”

Ab Fab, as it’s become widely known, has been an staple of British TV classics since its run from 1994 to 2004.

Jennifer played PR guru Edina Monsoon opposite Lumley’s Patsy Stone, but the pair’s hilarious rants would possibly incur a multitude of complaints if it was made today.

“I think it has changed comedy like what we used to make,” the telly icon shrugged of how society reacts to below-the-belt humour.

“I think we would probably talk ourselves out of most of it now.

“It would be like, ‘We won’t have a good answer so let’s not do that.'”

She added: “I think people do talk themselves out of stuff now because everything is sensitive.”

The Stranger star continued to tell The Sun: “It stops a lot of the fun, maybe, like jokes. I remember jokes. Silly jokes.”

Jennifer noted that people are “more wary of what they say and do now”, as the era of social media means we’re all under intense scrutiny at all times.

“Probably some of it is not bad as when we started as alternative comedians,” she said of rising to fame with Dawn French on the comedy circuit in the 1980s.

“It was a sort of a reaction against the mainstream comedians who were considered sexist and racist.”

But Ab Fab isn’t the only sitcom that could be targeted.

Jennifer comments come after popular comedies including Dad’s Army, Blackadder and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air were hit with warnings.

Fawlty Towers also came under fire for the legendary Germans episode, which was pulled by the BBC.

It lead actor John Cleese to hit out at the “cowardly and gutless” broadcaster for making the decision.

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