John Bishop and former England Rugby star James Haskell discuss cancel culture on Three Little Words podcast

Former Rugby player James Haskell is the latest guest to appear on John Bishop’s Amazon Prime podcast. The 38-year-old former rugby union star played for Wasps RFC and Northampton Saints in the Aviva Premiership and internationally for England. He now spends his time presenting and is also a House DJ. He produces his own music and has played around the world in places such as London, Dubai and Ibiza.

Speaking on John Bishop’s Three Little Words podcast, which he hosts with Tony Pitts, James discussed cancel culture and the importance of hearing the whole story. He said the three words that mean the most to him are ‘context’, ‘responsibility’ and ‘F**k’.

James said: “In the state of the world we are at the moment, feelings have overtaken facts, and we are now more interested in how people feel and are more accommodating to how people feel than we are about what science has told us and what the facts of the situation are. I think context is so key because social media has brought the world, apparently closer together, but what it lacks is context.”

The former rugby player used an example of when his wife, Chloe Madely, was attacked online for making a general statement about motherhood. He added: “I just don’t understand why people think everyone is always addressing them and that if you aren’t involved in the general malaise of life, or the things being discussed, why do you take offence? I find it very hard that people can’t sort of see past themselves and it’s so geared up to being offended.

John said: “One of the things that I think is relevant about context is particularly in comedy because within the context of comedy, a joke, a line, can all of a sudden, seem offensive to somebody when it’s part of a wider story. People can self-select the context they want to hear something in so that they can choose to be offended by it.”

John and Tony invite new celebrity guests onto their podcast every week and have interviewed the likes of Robbie Williams, Tony Bellew, Jimmy Carr and Ian McKellen. They ask their guests to list and discuss three words that mean the most to them.