London, Sep 3(ANI): British actor and comedian John Cleese has said mass immigration has transformed London into a "no longer English" city.
"I'm not sure what's going on in Britain. Or, let me say this - I don't know what's going on in London, because London is no longer an English city. That's how we got the Olympics," Cleese said.
"They said we were the most cosmopolitan city on Earth. But it doesn"""t feel English. I had a Californian friend come over two months ago, walk down the King"""s Road and say, Where are all the English people?", he added.
Cleese, who was former television comedy show, Monty Python star, expressed his views during an interview on a television show in Australia, where he is currently on a stand-up tour, the Daily Mail reports.
He said he felt like a foreigner while walking through London's streets.
Though Cleese was brought up in Somerset, he shifted to the US over two decades ago.is comments invited mixed comments from city officials.
"If the King"""s Road is jam-packed with foreign tourists then that is something we should celebrate," London Mayor spokesperson Boris Johnson said
UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage praised Cleese for expressing """what an increasing number of people in London are thinking""".
"For him to make these remarks shows a tremendous strength of feeling on this matter. Of course other cultures are welcome, but Mr Cleese is right to point out that it should not be at the expense of the parent culture", he said.
Over 2.7 million out of eight million residents of Greater London, were born outside the UK. (ANI)
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