Trans activists want to cancel the new Ricky Gervais Netflix special and have called on people to boycott it after the controversial British comedian made a series of perceived anti-trans jokes, according to media reports.
With the launch of his new Netflix special SuperNature, Gervais ‘s name started trending on twitter as the LGBTQ community urged viewers to boycott the show after being accused of mocking and questioning whether transwomen were women.
“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**ks. 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?’” he added. “‘Well, his penis.’ ‘Her penis, you f**king bigot!’ ‘What if he rapes me?’”
“What if she rapes you, you f**king TERF w**re?” responded Gervais (TERF: Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist, which is used to refer to people who reject the idea that trans women are real women)
Gervais continued his spiel by referencing the new phenomenon of cancelling and attacking comedians courtesy of the prevailing ‘offence’ and ‘victimhood’ culture.
“You can’t predict what will be offensive in the future. Like, the worst thing you can say today, get you cancelled 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 saying ‘Women don’t have penises.’ You know why? We didn’t think we f**king had to!” the comic added. He had previously stated that “smart people” don’t get offended by jokes about AIDS, Hitler and other taboo topics.
“Full disclosure: In real life of course I support trans rights. I support all human rights, and trans rights are human rights,” the comic insisted. “Live your best life. Use your preferred pronouns. Be the gender that you feel you are. But meet me halfway, ladies. Lose the c**k. That’s all I’m saying.”
Protests against Gervais started flying in the twitterverse:
“Ricky Gervais has a new stand-up show out on Netflix today,” said one critic on Twitter. “5 minutes in and he’s making jokes about trans women attacking and raping people in public bathrooms. To him, we exist only as a punchline, a threat, something less than human.”
Another tweeted, “If you’re a comedian and you support trans people it’s your responsibility to be speaking out against Dave Chappelle and the new Ricky Gervais special. At this point, you can’t call yourself an ally if you’re not publicly taking a stand against it. it’s the bare minimum.”
“It’s insane that Ricky Gervais’ whole bit is screeching and cackling at marginalised groups being brutally murdered daily, before turning to the camera, making a sad face, and saying ‘some people put lipstick on bunnies,’” they wrote.
“In honour of Ricky Gervais and his 2-4-1 rant on trans people and cancel culture, I am in fact, cancelling,” fumed one critic about the streaming service, which recently lost a boatload of subscribers. “Thanks @netflix #TransRightsAreHumanRights.”
The advocacy group GLAAD warned viewers of the show’s content, saying it was “full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes. He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric & spreads inaccurate information about HIV.”
