Ricky Gervais Reveals He Would Host Oscars ‘For Free’ — If He Can Say Whatever He Wants

Ricky Gervais has revealed that he would host the Oscars “for free,” but only if he was allowed to say whatever he wanted.

The comedian joined The View hosts on Thursday, clarifying comments he made during a recent appearance on Today with Hoda & Jenna. 

“I’d be canceled halfway through,” he told hosts Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager on Tuesday. “They’d never let me do what I wanted. That’s why the Globes got me.”

Sunny Hostin asked Gervais about the comments on Thursday, asking him why he believes he wouldn’t be able to host the Academy Awards despite having hosted the Golden Globes five times.

“I might be allowed to host it if I did what I was told, but there’s the rub,” he laughed. “The good thing at the Globes, they said I could write my own jokes, say what I want, and not rehearse, and that’s just too good for a comedian to turn down.”

He went on to predict that organizers of the Academy Awards would never allow him that same freedom, adding, “Rightly so, I think they would be mad.”

“If they did, I’d do it,” he revealed, adding, “If they said that, I’d definitely do it. I’d do it for free if they said I could do that.”

Whoopi Goldberg cut in to say that Gervais was wrong about how much leeway he would be granted if he agreed to host the awards show, which is currently seeking a host after lacking one for three years in a row.

“I think they would absolutely adore it, if you were up for it,” Goldberg said. “Did I just hear you say you might be interested?”

Gervais cracked that he was “already regretting” making the remark, as he’s aware Goldberg knows people who could pull some strings and make it happen.

“He said he was interested and he’d do it for free,” Ana Navarro noted, prompting Gervais to quip, “My agent is calling me on the phone now.”

Watch above, via ABC.