Summary
- Ricky Gervais won the Golden Globe for Best Stand-Up Comedy on Television, surprising himself and beating out competition from Chris Rock and Amy Schumer.
- Gervais’s Netflix special, Armageddon, receives complaints and calls for removal due to controversial jokes.
- Gervais dismisses the complaints as “faux-offense” and stands by his comedy, believing that offense is subjective and not everyone has to like his jokes.
Ricky Gervais is well accustomed to appearing on the Golden Globes stage after hosting the event on five occasions, but this time around it was his turn to be on the receiving end of an award. As the first winner of the new Golden Globe for Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television, Gervais seemed to be more surprised than anyone to have beaten off competition from the likes of Chris Rock and Amy Schumer to claim the win.
As is expected, Gervais’ most recent Netflix special, entitled Armageddon, arrived on the platform to a wave of complaints over some of the subjects covered by the creator of The Office. In true stand-up fashion, the comedian touched on many subjects, from weddings to funerals, A.I. to the end of the world. However, in the mix were jokes that ruffled feathers, and brought about calls for Netflix to remove the special from their platform.
Gervais had already responded to these complaints, calling them “faux-offense”, and it seems that his Golden Globes win has in a way supported his opinion on the matter. Reacting to his award, he shared a post on X (formerly Twitter) which simply said:
While Gervais was happy to celebrate, the mixed reviews of the special, along with its previous controversy, saw many take to their social media accounts to give their less than thrilled opinion on the matter.
Ricky Gervais’ Armageddon Instigated a Petition
When previously responding to the petition against his show, Gervais stood by his often repeated explanation of what people hear and what he says are very often two very different things. Speaking last month, he said:
“I’m literally saying in the joke that I don’t do that. But people have a reaction. They don’t analyze it. They feel something – that’s what offense is. It’s a feeling. That’s why ‘I’m offended’ is quite meaningless. What do you want me to change? They’re not really offended. They just want to be heard. Of all the millions of people that watched it and loved it, only a few don’t like it. If I give them special attention and try and placate them, I’ve annoyed the other millions of people that got the joke. They go, ‘No, you’ve ruined it for us!’”
Gervais has always been happy to stand by the shows and stand-up sets that he writes and frequently performs himself. The actor has always stood by the belief that offense is one person’s opinion. He also notes that being offended doesn’t automatically mean someone is right in demanding things to be purged so they don’t have to see it. He concluded:
“I’ve got a duty to the people that like it and get it. I wouldn’t sit down with a heckler would I? If I’m playing to 20,000 people, I wouldn’t stop the show and explain to them. I ignore them.”
