Ricky Gervais Defends Controversial Netflix Special Amid Backlash: ‘Comedy Is For Getting Us Over Taboo Subjects So They’re Not Scary Anymore’
25.05.2022 - 17:11
/ etcanada.com
Ricky Gervais doesn’t let criticism get him down.
The comedian defended jokes about “taboo subjects” in his new Netflix special “SuperNature” after he faced backlash from GLAAD, who said the show was “anti-trans” and “anti-gay.”
Gervais said as he chatted on BBC One’s “The One Show” on Tuesday: “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.”
READ MORE: Ricky Gervais Mocks Trans People And Eddie Izzard In Controversial New Standup Special
He shared, “It starts and they go, ‘What’s he going to say?’ I tell the joke. Phew, they laugh.
“It’s like a parachute jump — it’s scary, but then you land and it’s all OK.
“I think that’s what comedy is for — getting us over taboo subjects so they’re not scary anymore. So I deal with everything. And I think we second-guess the audience too much.”
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In his special, Gervais insisted the jokes do not represent his actual views, according to the BBC: “In real life, of course I support trans rights,” he said. “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,” adding that “it’s mad to think that joking about something means you’re anti-it.”
Gervais also jokes about AIDS, famine, cancer and Hitler in the special, as he told Stephen Colbert during an appearance on “The Late Show” last week.
He told the host,