Ricky Gervais’ new stand-up special titled “SuperNature” was released on Tuesday and immediately came under fire after making jokes about the transgender community.
Four minutes into the film, Gervais says, “Oh, women!” he starts. “Not all women, I mean the old-fashioned ones. The old-fashioned women, the ones with wombs. Those f------ 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 c----.”
“They’re as good as gold,” he continues. “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 f------ bigot!’ ‘What if he rapes me?’ ‘What if she rapes you, you f------ TERF whore?’”
In the last 20 minutes of the special, Gervais says, "Full disclosure: In real life, of course, I support trans rights. 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 that you are. But meet me halfway, ladies: Lose the c---. That's all I'm saying."
GLAAD, the LGBTQ+ media organization group responded to the special, saying “It’s full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes. He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric & spreads inaccurate information about HIV.”
We watched the Ricky Gervais "comedy" special on Netflix so you don’t have to. It’s full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes. He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric & spreads inaccurate information about HIV. 1/4
— GLAAD (@glaad) May 24, 2022
In a follow-up, tweet GLAAD writes, “Netflix has a policy that content "designed to incite hate or violence" is not allowed on their platform, but we all know that anti-LGBTQ content does exactly that. While Netflix is home to some groundbreaking LGBTQ shows, it refuses to enforce its own policy in comedy.”
This news comes after Netflix’s decision to support Dave Chappelle’s standup show which also featured comments directed toward the trans community.
Gervais defended his actions regarding making jokes about "taboo subjects" after his new Netflix special drew criticism. Speaking to BBC One's The One Show on Tuesday, he said that comedy is for "getting us over taboo subjects".
"I think that's what comedy is for, really - to get us through stuff, and I deal in taboo subjects because I want to take the audience to a place it hasn't been before, even for a split second.”
"Most offence comes from when people mistake the subject of a joke with the actual target,” he continued.