Ricky Gervais Latest Netflix Special Gets Attacked For Trans Jokes
Netflix is yet back again with another controversy over jokes that are mocking trans people. After the recent controversy with Dave Chappelle, the streaming giant has found itself in hot waters once again after Award-Winning stand-up comic Ricky Gervais cracked a few jokes at the expense of the trans community. Gervais, who is well known for his black comedy has had an extremely successful career with a slew of Netflix specials and his outrageous Golden Globe awards ceremony speech. The British stand-up comedian has also released his critically acclaimed show After Life on the streaming platform.
Controversial comic Ricky Gervais released his Netflix comedy special SuperNature on May 24 and within the first five minutes, Gervais aimed at trans women. According to the synopsis of SuperNature, “Ricky Gervais gives his take on the rules of comedy, spoiling his cats and how super actual nature is in his second Netflix stand-up special.”
Ricky Gervais Made Transphobic Jokes In His Comedy Special ‘SuperNature’
“Oh, women!” Gervais said in the comedy special. “Not all women, I mean the old-fashioned ones. The old-fashioned women, the ones with wombs. Those fucking dinosaurs. I love the new woman. They’re great, aren’t they? The new ones we’ve been seeing lately. The ones with beards and cocks. They’re as good as gold, 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—-ing bigot!’ ‘What if he r-pes me?’ ‘What if she r-pes you, you f—ing TERF w–re?’”
To note, TERF stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist which is used to define people who reject the notion that trans women are women.
Gervais referred to Kevin Hart’s 2018 scandal when past homophobic tweets were unveiled that resulted in Hart removing himself from hosting the Academy Awards after the media storm.
“You can’t predict what will be offensive in the future,” Gervais said. “You don’t know who the dominant mob will be. Like, the worst thing you can say today, get you canceled on Twitter, death threats, the worst thing you can say today is, ‘Women don’t have penises,’ right? Now, no one saw that coming. You won’t find a ten-year-old tweet of someone saying, ‘Women don’t have penises.’ You know why? We didn’t think we fucking had to!”
Despite making transphobic jokes, towards the end, he maintained in the series that he supports the transphobic community. He said, “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-ck. That’s all I’m saying.”
Netflix’s Last Year Controversy Involving Dave Chappelle’s ‘The Closer’
Related: Why Dave Chappelle Was Attacked on Stage in Los Angeles
Last year, Netflix was on the hotline with Dave Chappelle‘s comedy special ‘The Closer’. In the comedy special The Closer, Chappelle joked about trans women and their genitalia and defended J.K. Rowling against critics who said that she is transphobic and more.
According to Chappelle, his jokes hadn’t targeted gay or trans people but white people and implied that queer white people still oppress Black people. “I have never had a problem with transgender people. If you listen to what I’m saying clearly, my problem has always been with white people,” he says. At another point, he expands upon this, saying, “Gay people are minorities until they need to be white again.”
Netflix’s comedy special by Dave Chappelle was filled with allegedly transphobic material and inspired an employee walkout at the streamer.
