Ricky Gervais is under fire for his new comedy special SuperNature which received a lot of backlash for jokes at the expense of the transgender community.
The Netflix special debuted on May 24 and featured topics such as transgender people, Africans, Chinese people, victims of the Holocaust, global pandemics and pedophilia.
“I talk about AIDS, famine, cancer, the Holocaust, rape, pedophilia, but no, the one thing you mustn’t joke about is identity politics. The one thing you should never joke about is the trans issue. ‘They just wanna be treated equally.’ I agree. That’s why I include them,” Gervais quips during the stand-up set.
Gervais also made a distinction between “old-fashioned women” describing them as “the ones with wombs” and “new women” as “the ones with beards and (penises).”
Gervais then takes aim at pronouns in a mock argument stirred by “old-fashioned women.”
“What if he rapes me? What if she rapes you, you (expletive) TERF?” the comedian says in a back-and-forth exchange. TERF is an acronym that stands for trans exclusionary radical feminists. The term describes feminists who are transphobic.
He also brought up the topic of Kevin Hart who had to remove himself from hosting the 2018 Oscars after his homophobic tweets surfaced. He then suggested that the trans community has the capacity to get you cancelled. “You can’t predict what will be offensive in the future,” he said.
Gervais also joked that he wished gender identity was around when he was a kid so that he could have used it to his advantage by threatening his parents that he would either be trans or they can get him a new bike.
Later he admitted to sharing “misinformed” rhetoric and being “childish,” but preferred to be provocative in comedy. “We’re not trying to offend. That’s not our aim,” he said of controversial comedians. “We’re trying to make you laugh. Trying to make you have a good time.”
At the end of his hour-long special, Gervais told the audience, “Full disclosure: In real life of course I support trans rights. I support all human rights, and trans rights are human rights. Live your best life. Use your preferred pronouns. Be the gender that you feel you are. But meet me halfway, ladies. Lose the (penis). That’s all I’m saying.”
GLAAD issued a statement in response to Gervais’ special.
“(Gervais’ special) is full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes. He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric & spreads inaccurate information about HIV,” the organization said. Gervais made misinformed jokes about people living with HIV in his comedy special.
GLAAD continued: “Netflix has a policy that content ‘designed to incite hate or violence’ is not allowed on their platform, but we all know that anti-LGBTQ content does exactly that. While Netflix is home to some groundbreaking LGBTQ shows, it refuses to enforce its own policy in comedy.”
“The LGBTQ community and our allies have made it very clear that so-called comedians who spew hate in place of humor, and the media companies who give them a platform, will be held accountable,” the organization concluded. Meanwhile, there are PLENTY of funny LGBTQ comedians to support.”
Gervais quickly drew backlash from people calling the comedian’s comments “transphobic.”
“Ricky Gervais has a new stand up show out on Netflix today. 5 minutes in and he’s making jokes about trans women attacking & raping people in public bathrooms. To him we exist only as a punchline, a threat, something less than human,” one person tweeted.
Another wrote: “It’s insane that Ricky Gervais’ whole bit is screeching and cackling at marginalized groups being brutally murdered daily.”
“Ricky Gervais is just an incredibly lazy comedian who hasn’t worked out that just because you’re offensive it doesn’t mean you’re funny,” a Twitter user criticized.