Ricky Gervais Defends Controversial Jokes Ahead of Golden Globes Return: ‘Offense is the Collateral Damage of Free Speech’

British comedian Ricky Gervais defended the sharper side of comedy in an interview on the material he’s preparing for the Golden Globes next week.

Gervais spoke to Hollywood Reporter about this will be his 5th time hosting the Golden Globes. As the interview touched on why he took the job and how he’s preparing jokes for the show, Gervais was asked about accusations of transphobia he recently received after tweeting jokes toward a satirical Twitter account.

“People saw my tweet and they thought he’s a real trans person, but I’m taking the piss out of Jarvis Dupont, who is actually a woman in real life,” Gervais explained. “And this is the problem. You can say, ‘Listen, I was joking. It’s a joke.’ But that’s not always enough for people. They go, ‘Well, why were you joking?’ Also, add to that the nature of Twitter — it’s so curt, there’s no nuance, it’s there forever out of context.”

Gervais was also asked about why he used Twitter that way, and whether he thinks “woke culture” is ruining comedy. Gervais answered that phenomenons like political correctness “start off with very good intention and then they’re mugged.”

“It’s a good thing to not be racist and sexist and homophobic. But it’s not a good thing to not be allowed to make jokes about those things, because you can tell a joke about race without being racist. I’m happy to play by the rules. It’s just that the 200 million people watching have different rules. That’s the plight. When people say, ‘He crossed the line,’ I say, ‘I didn’t draw a line, you did.’ It’s relative. It’s subjective.”

This led to Gervais once again defending the jokes he made about Caitlyn Jenner when he hosted the Globes back in 2016. When asked about allegations that he’s a transphobic, Gervais answered that “I’m not, and there’s nothing else you can say” to people who view certain subjects as “taboo.”

“If you’re joking about a subject, they think you’re anti it as opposed to pro it. I’ve tried to explain this in Humanity. It’s an occupational hazard of being outspoken. I think offense is the collateral damage of free speech, and it’s no reason not to have free speech. That’s what I’d say — it’s the lesser of two evils. Having free speech and some people getting upset by it is the lesser of two evils because not having free speech is horrendous.”