Ricky Gervais has defended a joke he made in his new Netflix special Armageddon about terminally ill children.
The comedian, 62, came under fire online recently after a teaser clip for the stand-up programme showed him using the word “baldy” in a skit where he discusses how he makes videos for sick children.
A Change.org petition demanding Netflix remove Gervais’s sketch from the special, which is launching on Christmas Day, has now attracted nearly 6,000 signatures.
And that's a wrap on #Armageddon. Best tour ever. Thanks to everyone who bought a ticket and to everyone who tried. You helped me break world records and raise millions for animal charities. Watch it on Netflix from December 25th. Merry Christmas. pic.twitter.com/kjynIhY963
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) December 13, 2023
During the skit, he says: “I’ve been doing a lot of video messages recently for terminally ill children, only if they request it. I don’t burst into hospitals and say, ‘Wake up baldy’.”
He goes on to explain that the requests for the videos were through the charity Make-A-Wish foundation, adding: “I always say yes. And I always start the video the same way. I go ‘Why didn’t you wish to get better? What, are you f****** retarded as well?’”
The stand-up then clarified: “I don’t do that either, OK. These are all jokes, all right? I don’t even use that word in real life, the ‘R’ word.”
After mimicking someone saying ‘You just used it, Rick’, he added: “Yeah, in a joke, that’s not real life is it? I’m playing a role.”
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live with Nihal Arthanayake about using the word ‘baldy’ in the skit, Gervais said: “In that little sketch, I’m becoming an idiot who would say that, and I don’t do that. I even say that in the skit.
“But it’s a reaction. They don’t analyse it, they feel something. That’s what offence is, it’s a feeling.
“That’s why ‘I’m offended’ is quite meaningless because what’s your argument? What do you want me to change? You’ve said you don’t like it, that’s fair enough.”
When asked if he had seen the petition, the comedian said: “Good luck, that’s what I say to them. Good luck, I’ll even retweet it.”
Gervais said he feels he needs to stop explaining his jokes to those who say they are offended by them.
He added: “I do what’s funniest for the joke. I’ll pretend to be right-wing, I’ll pretend to be left-wing … whatever’s funniest for the joke, the routine to get my point across.
“And some people are confused by that because some people think that a joke is a window to the comedian’s true soul. It’s just not true. It’s a joke. No one thinks that with puns…
“So just because I deal in sort of realism and taboo subjects they think I mean it more than I would if I was doing a silly playground job and I think I’ve got to stop explaining myself because I’ve noticed something that happens, of all the millions of people that watched it and loved it, a few don’t like it.
“If I give them special attention and try and placate them and try and explain to them, I’ve annoyed the other millions of people that got the joke, they’re offended. They go ‘No, you’ve ruined it for us.’ So, I’ve got a duty to the people that like it and get it.
“I wouldn’t sit down with a heckler, would I? If I was playing to 20,000 people and some person shouted, I wouldn’t stop the show and explain to them. I ignore them.”
On Monday, Gervais issued a warning about the topics he discusses in his new special in a post to X, formerly Twitter.
He wrote: “In this show, I talk about sex, death, paedophilia, race, religion, disability, free speech, global warming, the holocaust and Elton John.
“If you don’t approve of jokes about any of these things, then please don’t watch. You won’t enjoy it and you’ll get upset.”
Gervais was nominated for a Golden Globe award last week in the best stand-up comedian on television category for the Netflix special.
Known for his risque humour, he has been a fixture on TV screens for more than two decades and built up a large following after creating and starring in comedy classic The Office.