Comedian Ricky Gervais is clearly enjoying himself as he rides the outrage wave from his fan-loved and Hollywood-loathed performance as the host of the Golden Globes Sunday night. After gaining hundreds of thousands of followers as a result of his celebrity slamming performance, Gervais took a moment early Wednesday to provide a helpful list of reminders about humor for his “offended” critics — many of whom happen to be journalists, who Gervais also made sure to mock.
In his instantly famous opening remarks at the awards show Sunday (transcript below), Gervais announced that it was his “last time” hosting the show and then promptly proceeded to do what so many viewers have been longing for a host to do: put virtue-signaling Hollywood in its place. “Let’s go out with a bang, let’s have a laugh at your expense,” he said at the start. “Remember, they’re just jokes. We’re all gonna die soon and there’s no sequel, so remember that.” After calling out Hollywood hypocrisy — including on sexual misconduct, corporate corruption and human rights abuses — Gervais ended his blistering opening statement by telling all the winners, “If you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and your God and f*** off, OK?”
His brutal rebuke of Hollywood was met with predictable outrage from many, including media figures and journalists, which Gervais pointed out in one tweet Tuesday.
“I always knew that there were morons in the world that took jokes seriously, but I’m surprised that some journalists do,” he wrote (tweet below). “Surely, understanding stuff is pretty fundamental to their job, isn’t it?” He ended the post by twisting the knife: “Just makes it funnier though, I guess.”
Early Wednesday, Gervais felt compelled to help out some of those particularly suffering from a case of perpetual offense by offering a list of reminders about how humor works and doesn’t work:
- Simply pointing out whether someone is left or right wing isn’t winning the argument.
- If a joke is good enough, it can be enjoyed by anyone.
- It’s not all about you.
- Just because you’re offended, doesn’t mean you’re right.
I always knew that there were morons in the world that took jokes seriously, but I'm surprised that some journalists do. Surely, understanding stuff is pretty fundamental to their job, isn't it? Just makes it funnier though, I guess😇
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) January 7, 2020
1. Simply pointing out whether someone is left or right wing isn't winning the argument.
2. If a joke is good enough, it can be enjoyed by anyone.
3. It's not all about you.
4. Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) January 8, 2020
As The Daily Wire reported, Gervais spent Monday after the Globes having fun at his critics’ expense online, ridiculing responses to his performance from The Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter and The Independent, along with the very show he hosted.
Among his posts was one in which he slammed those calling him “right wing.” “How the f*** can teasing huge corporations, and the richest, most privileged people in the world be considered right wing?” he tweeted (post below).
He also made a point of thanking his hundred of thousands of new followers. “Welcome to the 300,000 new followers I acquired today. I promise you won’t like everything I say, but here’s a sexy photo,” he wrote.
Gervais continued to hit his critics on Tuesday, including retweeting a defense of his Golden Globes jokes by Second Amendment champion Dana Loesch, who called The Independent’s condemnation of Gervais “garbage.”
“Oh garbage,” Loesch wrote. “[Ricky Gervais] demonstrated that good comedians go after everyone. No one should be safe, but the prevailing thought these past 10+ years is that one group IS exempt. They can lecture from the stage but he can’t mock their inconsistencies? You prove his point.”
How the fuck can teasing huge corporations, and the richest, most privileged people in the world be considered right wing? 😂 #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/rfXdGrZ41j
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) January 6, 2020
Welcome to the 300,000 new followers I acquired today. I promise you won’t like everything I say, but here’s a sexy photo. pic.twitter.com/zLv7nDBWg7
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) January 7, 2020
Oh garbage. @rickygervais demonstrated that good comedians go after everyone. No one should be safe, but the prevailing thought these past 10+ years is that one group IS exempt. They can lecture from the stage but he can’t mock their inconsistencies? You prove his point. https://t.co/Dr9PKnbUSg
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) January 7, 2020
Below is the transcript of Gervais’ opening comments at the Golden Globes:
You’ll be pleased to know this is the last time I’m hosting these awards, so I don’t care anymore. I’m joking. I never did. I’m joking, I never did. NBC clearly don’t care either — fifth time. I mean, Kevin Hart was fired from the Oscars for some offensive tweets — hello?
Lucky for me, the Hollywood Foreign Press can barely speak English and they’ve no idea what Twitter is, so I got offered this gig by fax. Let’s go out with a bang, let’s have a laugh at your expense. Remember, they’re just jokes. We’re all gonna die soon and there’s no sequel, so remember that.
But you all look lovely all dolled up. You came here in your limos. I came here in a limo tonight and the license plate was made by Felicity Huffman. No, shush. It’s her daughter I feel sorry for. OK? That must be the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to her. And her dad was in Wild Hogs.
Lots of big celebrities here tonight. Legends. Icons. This table alone — Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro … Baby Yoda. Oh, that’s Joe Pesci, sorry. I love you man. Don’t have me whacked. But tonight isn’t just about the people in front of the camera. In this room are some of the most important TV and film executives in the world. People from every background. They all have one thing in common: They’re all terrified of Ronan Farrow. He’s coming for ya. Talking of all you perverts, it was a big year for pedophile movies. Surviving R. Kelly, Leaving Neverland, Two Popes. Shut up. Shut up. I don’t care. I don’t care.
Many talented people of color were snubbed in major categories. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about that. Hollywood Foreign press are all very racist. Fifth time. So. We were going to do an In-Memoriam this year, but when I saw the list of people who died, it wasn’t diverse enough. No, it was mostly white people and I thought, nah, not on my watch. Maybe next year. Let’s see what happens.
No one cares about movies anymore. No one goes to cinema, no one really watches network TV. Everyone is watching Netflix. This show should just be me coming out, going, “Well done Netflix. You win everything. Good night.” But no, we got to drag it out for three hours. You could binge-watch the entire first season of Afterlife instead of watching this show. That’s a show about a man who wants to kill himself cause his wife dies of cancer and it’s still more fun than this. Spoiler alert, season two is on the way so in the end he obviously didn’t kill himself. Just like Jeffrey Epstein. Shut up. I know he’s your friend but I don’t care.
Seriously, most films are awful. Lazy. Remakes, sequels. I’ve heard a rumor there might be a sequel to Sophie’s Choice. I mean, that would just be Meryl just going, “Well, it’s gotta be this one then.” All the best actors have jumped to Netflix, HBO. And the actors who just do Hollywood movies now do fantasy-adventure nonsense. They wear masks and capes and really tight costumes. Their job isn’t acting anymore. It’s going to the gym twice a day and taking steroids, really. Have we got an award for most ripped junky? No point, we’d know who’d win that.
Martin Scorsese made the news for his controversial comments about the Marvel franchise. He said they’re not real cinema and they remind him about theme parks. I agree. Although I don’t know what he’s doing hanging around theme parks. He’s not big enough to go on the rides. He’s tiny. The Irishman was amazing. It was amazing. It was great. Long, but amazing. It wasn’t the only epic movie. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, nearly three hours long. Leonardo DiCaprio attended the premiere and by the end his date was too old for him. Even Prince Andrew was like, “Come on, Leo, mate. You’re nearly 50-something.”
The world got to see James Corden as a fat p****. He was also in the movie Cats. No one saw that movie. And the reviews, shocking. I saw one that said, “This is the worst thing to happen to cats since dogs.” But Dame Judi Dench defended the film saying it was the film she was born to play because she loves nothing better than plunking herself down on the carpet, lifting her leg and licking her [expletive]. (Coughs) Hairball. She’s old-school.
It’s the last time, who cares? Apple roared into the TV game with The Morning Show, a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing, made by a company that runs sweatshops in China. Well, you say you’re woke but the companies you work for in China — unbelievable. Apple, Amazon, Disney. If ISIS started a streaming service you’d call your agent, wouldn’t you?
So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.
So if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and your God and f*** off, OK? It’s already three hours long. Right, let’s do the first award.