Legendary British comedian Ricky Gervais released his latest comedy special ‘SuperNature’ on Netflix earlier this week, and ever since the release of the comedy special, activist internet has been out for his blood. True to his comedy nature, Ricky once again gave a masterclass in irony and in the process offended everyone with his jokes on religion, God, Satan, and Baby Hitler. However, the jokes that got the internet up in arms involved transgenders, an alleged “no-go” area for comedians.
The creator of ‘The Office’ did not hold back while joking about transgenders as he made fun of these “new women with beards and c*cks”, and the transgender community and their ‘allies’ did not like it. The internet was full of people attacking Ricky for being transphobic and homophobic, and some even went as far as to say that Ricky Gervais isn’t funny. One of the highest-paid comedians in the world and the creator of one of the biggest hits in comedy history apparently stopped being funny because he made a joke about transgenders.
After the backlash, Ricky Gervais has come out and clarified that the target of his jokes was exactly this sort of trans-activism. Explaining his decision to do those jokes, Ricky said, “My target wasn’t trans folk, but trans activist ideology. I’ve always confronted dogma that oppresses people and limits freedom of expression.”
Further, the Afterlife creator said, “It was probably the most current, most talked about, taboo subject of the last couple of years. I deal in the taboo subjects and have to confront the elephant in the room.”
Notably, another legendary comedian Dave Chappelle has been facing attempts to get him ‘canceled’ over the past 2 years for daring to joke about transgenders. Chappelle even faced an onstage attack during his last comedy performance from someone who was offended by his trans jokes.
These cancelation attempts aren’t new to the British comedian. After the first time he hosted Golden Globe Awards, Hollywood and the American press was so shocked that they deemed his showbiz career over, he went on to host the show 4 more times.