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Rowan Atkinson: Repeal Anti-Insult Law

MR. BEAN GETS POLITICAL

Calls Britain’s Public Order Act “censorship.”

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Leon Neal / AFP

We may be used to Mr. Bean’s goofy pratfalls, but Rowan Atkinson isn’t clowning around. The actor, best known for playing the fumbling British doof Mr. Bean, is launching a campaign for a change in Britain’s Public Order Act, a law that bans “insulting words and behavior.” The law has reportedly led to the arrest of a Christian preacher, a Scientology critic, and student who cracked a joke. Atkinson says the act creates a “culture of censoriousness,” as what constitutes “insulting” is too ambiguous to be fairly enforced.

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