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Ricky Gervais Responds To Rising To No. 1 Comedian, Actor On Charts After Golden Globes

   DailyWire.com
Ricky Gervais attends the Netflix 2020 Golden Globes After Party at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 05, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)
Rich Fury/Getty Images

Comedian Ricky Gervais did something he knew many of his peers would “hate” him for at his fifth and self-declared “last” stint hosting the Golden Globes last week — he unflinchingly tore into virtue-signaling Hollywood, repeatedly putting his fellow celebrities in their place for their various hypocritical stances, and famously instructing winners to “come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and your God and f*** off, OK?” The result: his popularity has skyrocketed.

According to The Hollywood Reporter’s new rankings on its “Social Climbers” charts, Gervais is now not only the top-rated comedian, he’s also the No. 1 ranked actor. The rankings come after Gervais trollingly pointed out to his critics online that he’d gained over 300,000 new followers within 24 hours of the Globes.

The “Social Climbers” charts are “rankings of the most popular entities on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, with global data provided by social media analytics company MVPindex,” THR explains. “The chart’s methodology blends engagement to entities’ social media accounts along with weekly additions of followers/subscribers.”

THR’s latest charts are based on data collected two days after Gervais’ widely cheered speech, which THR describes as being interpreted by “some” as “a dressing down of Hollywood elites.” All the buzz surrounding Gervais translated to a massive spike in social media engagement, including being mentioned on Twitter some 384,000 times, a 989% increase for the comedian.

The result is Gervais coming in No. 1 on the Top Actors list, his first time there since July 2018, THR notes. Gervais also currently enjoys the top spot among comedians, the fourth time he’s done that since last August. Below are the two THR charts Gervais currently sits atop thanks to his roasting of Hollywood:

Top Actors
1. Ricky Gervais (+23)
2. Dwayne Johnson (-1)
3. Jennifer Lopez (+4)
4. Millie Bobby Brown (=)
5. Priyanka Chopra (-3)
6. Jennifer Aniston (+4)
7. Camila Mendes (re-entry)
8. Lily Collins (+9)
9. Salma Hayek (re-entry)
10. Reese Witherspoon (re-entry)

Top Comedians
1. Ricky Gervais (+7)
2. Kevin Hart (-1)
3. Lil’ Duval (+1)
4. Colleen Ballinger (-2)
5. HaHa Davis (+5)
6. Desi Banks (-3)
7. Chris D’Elia (=)
8. Kathy Griffin (re-entry)
9. Joe Rogan (-4)
10. Rickey Smiley (-4)

Gervais responded online Sunday to fans vaulting him to the top of the two lists. “Thank you,” he tweeted. “Although, as the new champion of the people, I have to tell you that I prefer animals.”

In his opening remarks at the Golden Globes (full transcript below), Gervais came out guns blazing — and taking aim at many people in the room, which he suggested he felt even more free to do since this would be “the last time” he’d be hosting the show.

“You’ll be pleased to know this is the last time I’m hosting these awards, so I don’t care anymore,” he began. “I’m joking. I never did. I’m joking, I never did.”

“Let’s go out with a bang, let’s have a laugh at your expense,” he said, firing a warning shot right from the start. “Remember, they’re just jokes. We’re all gonna die soon and there’s no sequel, so remember that.” He went on to torch Hollywood for hypocrisy on sexual harassment, human rights abuses, and corporate corruption.

Amid backlash from the media and other Hollywood defenders in the days after the Globes, Gervais appeared to revel in all the outrage and hyperbole, touting his rapidly growing number of followers, mocking his critics, posting reminders about how politics and humor works, and explaining why many celebrities — particularly liberals — deserve a thorough roasting.

“I didn’t roast Hollywood for being a bunch of liberals. I myself am a liberal. Nothing wrong with that,” he explained on Twitter last Wednesday. “I roasted them for wearing their liberalism like a medal. I’m such a snowflake, liberal, I can’t even really hate them for it. But my job is to take the piss. I did that.”

Related: Ricky Gervais Posts List Of Reminders For Outraged Critics About ‘Left And Right-Wing,’ Twists Knife In Media

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.

 

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