"Cheese-eating surrender monkeys", sometimes shortened to "surrender monkeys", is apejorative term forFrench people. The term was coined in 1995 byKen Keeler, a writer for the television seriesThe Simpsons, and has entered two Oxford quotation dictionaries.[1]
The term "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" first appeared in"'Round Springfield", an April 1995 episode ofThe Simpsons, an American animated television show.[2] In the episode, budget cuts atSpringfield Elementary School force the school's Scottish janitor,Groundskeeper Willie, to teach French. Expressing his disdain for French people, he says in a heavy Scottish burr to the class: "Bonjourrrrrrrrr, you cheese-eating surrender monkeys!"[3][4][5]
On the episode'saudio commentary, executive producerAl Jean said the line was probably written byThe Simpsons staff writerKen Keeler.[6] In a February 2012 interview, Keeler confirmed that he coined the term; he said he considers it his best contribution to the show.[7] Al Jean commented that the staff did not expect the term to become widely used and never intended it as any kind of genuine political statement.[6]
When"'Round Springfield" was dubbed for a French audience, the line became "Rendez vous, singes mangeurs de fromage" ("Surrender, cheese-eating monkeys").[8][9]
In 2005Ned Sherrin selected the term for inclusion in the third edition of theOxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations.[1] It is also included in the 2007Oxford Dictionary of Modern Quotations.[10]
The term gained political traction in the US, especially in right-wing circles, whenJonah Goldberg, a columnist for theNational Review magazine, used it in the title of an April 1999 column on the "Top Ten Reasons to Hate the French".[11] In the run up to and during theIraq War, Goldberg reprised it to criticize European nations and France in particular for not joining theCoalition of the Willing, the United States-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.[2]
In 2005,Nigel Farage used the phrase in a debate withTony Blair over the United Kingdom's financial contributions to theEuropean Union, in which Farage contrasted Blair withJacques Chirac, whom Farage praised for standing up for the French people, while accusing Blair of failing to do the same for the British people.[12][13]
Ben Macintyre ofThe Times wrote in August 2007 that it is "perhaps the most famous" of thecoinages fromThe Simpsons and it "has gone on to become a journalistic cliché".[8] TheNew York Post used it (as "Surrender Monkeys") as the headline for its December 7, 2006, front page, referring to theIraq Study Group, and its recommendation that American soldiers be withdrawn fromIraq by January 2008.[14]
The Daily Telegraph (November 2010) cited it in relation toAnglo-French military cooperation.[15] In August 2013,The Independent suggested an evolution away from the term, in a headline aboutFrench-American relations over theSyrian Civil War.[16]
On 6 March 2014, opposition LeaderBill Shorten used the term in theAustralian Parliament. He called theGovernment of Australia "the cheese-eating surrender monkeys of Australian jobs".[17] When asked to withdraw the comment, Shorten claimed he borrowed the line from an American politician, whom he could not name.[citation needed] On 28 July 2014, Australia's Immigration MinisterScott Morrison used it to describe theLabor and Greens position on asylum seekers.[18]
Anthony Bourdain described fellow chefPatrick Clark in his bookKitchen Confidential (2000) as follows: "He was kind of famous; he was big and black; most important, he was an American, one of us, not some cheese-eating, surrender specialist Froggie."[19]
Jeremy Clarkson used it onTop Gear in June 2003 to describe the handling of theRenault Clio V6[20] and in a 4 June 2006 episode to describe the manufacturers of theCitroën C6.[citation needed] In Series 13, Episode 5, he calls the other French drivers "cheese-eating sideways monkeys" as they were overtaking him while sliding sideways.[citation needed]
In October 2025, a director at the ScottishquangoHistoric Environment Scotland was publicly criticised for using the term to refer to French people.[21][22]
