Ricky Gervais’ new Netflix special criticised as “toxic” and “transphobic”
"This isn't comedy. This is making cheap, nasty stereotypes out of a minority group"
Ricky Gervais’ new Netflix special ‘Super Nature‘ has been criticised by viewers as “toxic” and “transphobic” following its release.
The ‘Office’ and ‘After Life’ star’s new special landed on the streaming service today (May 24), and viewers have already taken to social media to take exception to a number of jokes made by Gervais about the trans community, which some have called transphobic.
In one clip from the show, Gervais says: “Oh, women! Not all women, I mean the old-fashioned ones. The old-fashioned women, the ones with wombs.
“Those fucking dinosaurs. I love the new women. They’re great, aren’t they? The new ones we’ve been seeing lately. The ones with beards and c***s. They’re as good as gold, I love them.”
The imaginary conversation set up in the joke then went on, with Gervais saying: “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 fucking bigot!’ ‘What if he rapes me?’ ‘What if she rapes you, you fucking TERF wanker?’”
Since the special landed on Netflix overnight, many have taken to social media to call it “toxic” and even that they plan to cancel their subscriptions over the show.
“Ricky Gervais has a new stand up show out on Netflix today. 5 minutes in and he’s making jokes about trans women attacking & raping people in public bathrooms,” one tweeted. “To him we exist only as a punchline, a threat, something less than human.”
Another viewer on Twitter wrote: “This isn’t comedy. This is making cheap, nasty stereotypes out of a minority group. Please, if you’re Transgender or Support Trans lives, don’t watch this.”
The message added: “These kind of comments don’t even hurt just trans lives. They hurt everyone, especially all women. We only had an incident last week of a cisgender woman being misgendered and forced out of the women’s toilets for not presenting ‘feminine’ enough. These jokes endanger all women.
“My personal message to you Ricky Gervais is please stop using Transgender Women as a punch line. It harms them. Not only them, but all Transgender people and All Women (Both Cisgender and Transgender). You can make jokes and do comedy not at the expense of others.”
Another viewer said: “A big fuck you to Ricky Gervais. Trans people aren’t a punchline. We have lives and harmful stereotypes are literally killing us.”
Last month, Gervais was one celebrity to weigh in on the Will Smith Oscars slap controversy, defending Chris Rock in the process.
“That was like the tamest joke I would’ve ever told,” Gervais said in reference to Rock’s dig at Jada Pinkett-Smith’s shaved head.