Ricky Gervais Special Labeled ‘Hurtful’ by Critics Over Trans Jokes

Zachary LeemanMay 24th, 2022, 12:34 pm
 

Ricky Gervais Kicks Up Controversy with Trans Jokes

Ricky Gervais has dropped a new comedy special on Netflix titled SuperNature, and critics have honed in on the specific bits regarding trans people.

“The longest riff is reserved for the humiliation of trans people,” Nick Hilton wrote in a negative review for The Independent.

Variety coverage of the special highlighted some of the “graphic and hurtful transphobic jokes”:

Oh, women! Not all women, I mean the old-fashioned ones. The old-fashioned women, the ones with wombs. Those fucking dinosaurs. I love the new women. They’re great, aren’t they? The new ones we’ve been seeing lately. The ones with beards and cocks. They’re as good as gold, I love them.

And now the old-fashioned ones say, ‘Oh, they want to use our toilets.’ ‘Why shouldn’t they use your toilets?’ ‘For ladies!’ ‘They are ladies — look at their pronouns! What about this person isn’t a lady?’ ‘Well, his penis.’ ‘Her penis, you fucking bigot!’ ‘What if he rapes me?’ ‘What if she rapes you, you fucking TERF whore?’

Gervais later took on cancel culture and said the most offensive thing one can do today is say, “women don’t have penises.”

“You can’t predict what will be offensive in the future,” the comedian said. “You don’t know who the dominant mob will be. Like, the worst thing you can say today, get you canceled on Twitter, death threats, the worst thing you can say today is, ‘Women don’t have penises,’ right? Now, no one saw that coming. You won’t find a ten-year-old tweet saying ‘Women don’t have penises.’ You know why? We didn’t think we fucking had to!”

Gervais did say he supports the transgender community at another point, buttoning up the special with another joke to poke at his critics.

“Full disclosure: In real life of course I support trans rights,” he said. “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 cock. That’s all I’m saying.”

Gervais also said that “identity politics” are considered off-limits for comedians by many today, which is why he directly takes it on in his material.

“I talk about AIDS, famine, cancer, the Holocaust, rape, pedophilia, but the one thing you mustn’t joke about is identity politics. The one thing you shouldn’t joke about’s the trans issue. ‘They just wanna be treated equally.’ I agree. That’s why I include them,” he said.

As is typical with most Gervais material, people have been split in their reactions, with some — including Piers Morgan — celebrating the politically incorrect special, while others have blasted the comedian for his trans-related material.

The controversy isn’t phasing Gervais all that much. The comedian took to Twitter on Tuesday to say Netflix has already ordered another comedy special from him.

Tags:
Zachary Leeman

Zachary Leeman covered pop culture and politics at outlets such as Breitbart, LifeZette, BizPac Review, HollywoodinToto, and others. He is the author of the novel Nigh. He joined Mediaite in 2022.