Rowan Atkinson blasts social media and blames it for widening divisions in society 

‘Cancel culture is like a medieval mob’: Rowan Atkinson blasts social media and blames it for widening divisions in society

  • Rowan Atkinson said that he finds playing Mr Bean ‘stressful and exhausting’
  • The actor, 65, also said the only character he enjoyed playing was Blackadder
  • He compared online cancel culture to ‘digital equivalent of the medieval mob’

He’s one of Britain’s best-known comic characters who is loved the world over.

But Rowan Atkinson has revealed he finds playing Mr Bean ‘stressful and exhausting’.

The actor, 65, said the only role he had enjoyed during his illustrious career was Blackadder as the ‘weight of responsibility’ to be funny wasn’t just on him.

He added that it was ‘certainly not impossible’ for Blackadder to return.

He’s one of Britain’s best-known comic characters who is loved the world over. But Rowan Atkinson has revealed he finds playing Mr Bean (pictured) ‘stressful and exhausting’

Atkinson, pictured as Mr Bean, starred in the ITV series from 1990 until 1995, and it spawned a cartoon spin-off and two big-screen films. It is one of Britain’s most successful comedy exports.

The actor, who is to voice the character in an upcoming animated Mr Bean feature film, told Radio Times: ‘It’s easier for me to perform the character vocally than visually. I don’t much enjoy playing him.

‘The weight of responsibility is not pleasant. I find it stressful and exhausting, and I look forward to the end of it.’

Atkinson also condemned online cancel culture as ‘the digital equivalent of the medieval mob’.

The actor (pictured), who is to voice the character in an upcoming animated Mr Bean feature film, told Radio Times: ¿It¿s easier for me to perform the character vocally than visually. I don¿t much enjoy playing him'

The actor (pictured), who is to voice the character in an upcoming animated Mr Bean feature film, told Radio Times: ‘It’s easier for me to perform the character vocally than visually. I don’t much enjoy playing him’

He said social media filled him with ‘fear about the future’, and that it had widened divisions in society and lowered tolerance.

‘The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society,’ he said. ‘It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be “cancelled”.

‘What we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn.

‘So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future.’