It seems that yet another Netflix comedy special has courted controversy as LGBTQIA+ organizations were far from amused by Ricky Gervais’ latest stand up special, SuperNature .
For years, the comic has made it clear that he’s no fan of cancel culture and appears to await the day when its most vocal proponents know what it feels like to be cancelled .
And as is often the case for Gervais, it seems that his brushes with online critics have only made him more defiant. Since he’s never been one to avoid controversy, one might expect him to turn what is normally a fear of cancellation into a personal challenge.
But while it was hard to find someone who didn’t delight in his merciless roast of his fellow celebrities at the 2020 Golden Globes , SuperNature is already leaving a much more sour taste in some people’s mouths.
Ricky Gervais’ newest special was released via Netflix on May 24 and it’s already being compared to Dave Chappelle’s The Closer for similar reasons.
According to Fortune , the backlash is largely centering around jokes aimed at transgender individuals with one such example addressing what he described as “old-fashioned women. They’re the ones with wombs.”
This reference gave way to a hypothetical conversation with such a person who doesn’t want to share a bathroom with a transgender woman.
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This leads to a setup where he asked, “They are ladies, look at their pronouns. What about this person isn’t a lady?” This then leads to the punchline, “Well, his penis” before the routine becomes more explicit.
Such fare has earned Gervais rebukes from the National Center for Transgender Equality and GLAAD, who also accused him of anti-gay rhetoric and making inaccurate statements about HIV.
As a representative from GLAAD said, “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.”
They also asserted that the special violates Netflix’s policy against content intended to incite hate or violence, while the National Center for Transgender Equality said that jokes based on “dehumanizing myths about transgender people” fuel hatred and violence towards them.
For his part, Gervais has characterized his remarks as examples of “equal opportunity humor” and not a genuine reflection of his views.
He dismissed the idea of jokes being “windows” into a comedian’s soul, saying, “That’s just not the case. I’ll take on any view to make the joke funny. I’ll pretend to be right wing, I’ll pretend to be left-wing.”
And considering that he’s previously described the special in interviews as an intentional effort to get cancelled , it’s hard not to see his jokes aimed at LGBTQ+ communities, Asian communities, and the Holocaust as prongs towards that goal.
In a moment apparently intended to show those true intentions, Gervais went on to say, “Full disclosure: Of course I support trans rights. I support all human rights. And trans rights are human rights.”
As he added, “You know, live your best life. Use your preferred pronouns. Be the gender that you feel you are.”
But this led to another punchline about the genitalia of transgender people, it doesn’t appear to have done much to quiet his critics .
As one theater composer and activist named Charlie Caine tweeted out, “Ricky Gervais is just an incredibly lazy comedian who hasn’t worked out that just because you’re offensive it doesn’t mean you’re funny.”
h/t: Fortune
