Ricky Gervais managed to get through the Golden Globes without making a single transphobic joke
Ricky Gervais hosting the Golden Globes 2020. (YouTube)
Ricky Gervais made it through the entire three-hour Golden Globes ceremony without making a single joke or questionable comment about trans people.
Gervais returned to the Golden Globes for his fifth, and if we are to believe his repeated protests, final time as host.
The comedian was at pains to let the audience know that he was over the presenting gig, repeatedly claiming: “I don’t care.”
His lethargy translated into a pack of middling reviews, with his performance dubbed “lacklustre and lazy,” “disingenuous” and “floundering”.
“If you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech,” Gervais said during his opening monologue.
“You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg.”
He then encouraged the night’s winners to “come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god, and f*** off”.
Meryl Streep was seen shaking her head.
The performance divided the internet into two clear factions.
This is the whole of @rickygervais’s opening monologue at the Golden Globes. The fight back against the woke thought police begins in 2020. pic.twitter.com/gKH72SoqOa
— Toby Young (@toadmeister) January 6, 2020
Thank god for R*cky G*rvais, nothing says speaking truth to power like *checks notes* a white, middle-aged, climate change denying, racist, transphobic millionaire who name searches himself constantly to have a go at normal people for not kissing his feet in adoration
— Richard Butler (@rmdbutler) January 6, 2020
Ricky Gervais joked about Harvey Weinstein on the eve of producer’s trial.
Gervais’ insistence on no political speeches was all the more tone-deaf considering the ceremony’s timing, taking place as it did on the eve of Harvey Weinstein’s criminal.
The disgraced producer has plead not guilty to five counts of predatory sexual assault, criminal sex act and rape, his alleged conduct having sent shockwaves through the industry.
Gervais made mention of the mogul later in the ceremony, quipping: “Our next presenter starred in Netflix’s Bird Box, a movie where people survive by acting like they don’t see a thing – sort of like working for Harvey Weinstein.”
The Golden Globes 2020 were, thankfully, light on trans ‘jokes’.
While Gervais took shots at the #MeToo movement, Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein, he thankfully steered clear of transphobic humour.
During Gervais’ last time presenting the Golden Globes in 2016, he was criticised for dead naming Caitlyn Jenner and joking about her transition.
The Office writer had faced calls to step down from this year’s ceremony after using his Twitter account to voice his support for JK Rowling, who faced a backlash of her own after she aligned herself with a woman who pursued legal action to have “gender-critical views” protected under the UK Equalities Act.
He also mocked and misgendered a spoof handle which identifies itself as being from a trans woman (it is believed that a cis woman is behind the account).
Gervais later said that he was just “playing along” with the account.
Ricky Gervais made an oral sex joke about Judi Dench at Golden Globes.
Among Gervais’ worst takes of the night were a pair of jokes about the film Cats.
“The world got to see James Corden as a fat pussy,” he said.
“He was also in the movie Cats, but no one saw that.”
Moving on to Corden’s co-star Judi Dench, he claimed that the actor had defended the film because “it was the role she was born to play”.
“I can’t do this one,” he laughed, alone.
“Because she loves nothing better than plonking herself down on the carpet and licking her own…”
