Ricky Gervais Netflix Special Draws Instant Backlash For Jokes About Transgendered Individuals

Ricky Gervais is the latest comic to venture out into the waters of telling jokes about the LGBTQ+ community. His Netflix special, SuperNature, wastes little time letting you know where it is going, and weaves in and out of the controversial lane throughout.

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If you choose to watch it, which I do recommend to form your own opinion, it is not long into the set where he brings up a comment from a past audience member calling him “as funny as a fart at a baby’s funeral,” where he then transitions to a joke about women. From there, he clarifies: “The old-fashioned women, the ones with wombs.”

Not too long after that he circles back. And moves onto bathroom access.

“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!'”

Similar to the ‘controversy’ that surrounded Dave Chappelle, the jokes were not told in a mean spirit. They were funny and timely, for the most part, and like Chappelle, Gervais made it perfectly clear his respect for the community at large.

He then continued to be a comedian, and turned the serious moment into a joke:

“Trans rights are human rights. Live your best life. Use your preferred pronouns. Be the gender that you feel that you are,” he said. “But meet me halfway, ladies. Lose the cock.”

Naturally with those comments taken as they stand and not within context of a comedy special the backlash was immediate.

LGBTQ+ advocacy organization GLAAD wrote on Twitter, “(SuperNature is) full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes. He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric & spreads inaccurate information about HIV,” , adding that Netflix was going against its own policies of not allowing content “designed to incite hate or violence.”

Gervais has a history of making otherwise inappropriate comments about most every corner of the known universe during his comedy. His comments about the transgender community are not outside of his normal bounds, but have been quickly condemned by many.

SuperNatural is available to stream on Netflix.

What do you think?

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