Ricky Gervais didn’t hesitate for a second.
In an interview with the BBC, the 64-year-old British comedian defended his jokes about trans people, people with disabilities, and body weight with a phrase that sums up his stance: “I think I’m right. I have the right to talk about those things”. There can be no review, he said. He isn’t going to rewrite his past routines, although he would accept putting a content warning before people start laughing.
The controversy isn’t new. His 2022 Netflix special “SuperNature” included 15 minutes devoted to trans people that enraged LGBTQ+ organizations, even after he himself said in the same show that “trans rights are human rights”. His 2024 tour “Mortality” didn’t calm the waters either.
In January of this year, he won his third Golden Globe for that special, but he didn’t even go to collect it. Wanda Sykes took the stage on his behalf and thanked, with sharp irony, “the trans community”. Gervais wasn’t there to hear it.
