Armageddon: Ricky Gervais controversies explained

With the new Netflix stand-up special Ricky Gervais: Armageddon dropping today, here’s what you need to know about the controversies surrounding the comedian’s sets. 

Ricky Gervais is a one-of-a-kind comedian, his breakthrough arriving in 2001 with his original UK sitcom The Office. Since then, he’s written, produced, and starred in a string of hit series, appeared in Hollywood movies, and continues to embark on sell-out stand-up tours. 

Gervais is celebrated for his sharp wit, irreverent humor, and unapologetic approach to controversial topics, notable highlights being his turn hosting the Golden Globe Awards. Rather than pandering to the various A-listers in front of him, he took the decision to tear them to shreds, taking brutal jabs at wealthy elites and institutions with no holds barred. 

His Netflix stand-up specials continue to do record numbers while also running into controversy, with Gervais responding to each and every one. 

Ricky Gervais controversies explained

Ricky Gervais: Armageddon is his third Netflix stand-up special, coming after 2018’s Humanity and 2022’s SuperNature.

Below, you will find an explanation of the backlash to each one, as well as his responses.

Ricky Gervais responds to Armageddon joke backlash 

In a joke from Armageddon, Gervais speaks about Make A Wish Foundation, saying: “I’ve been doing a lot of video messages lately for terminally ill children. Only if they request it, obviously. I don’t burst into hospitals and go, ‘Wake up baldy.’”

Describing the foundation as “great,” he adds: “They give these dying kids their one wish, and if it’s me 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*cking r******d as well?”

The joke was criticized by numerous people and organizations, including disability charity Scope, which said in a statement: “We wish we were surprised by reports that @RickyGervais has used ableist slurs in his new @Netflix special.

“Language like this has consequences… Disabled people already face negative attitudes, and the media has an enormous role to play in improving understanding. ‘Joking’ about this kind of language trivializes it. It risks normalizing the abuse that many disabled people face on a day-to-day basis.”

Elsewhere, a petition was launched calling on Netflix to remove the joke, with the creator writing: “I can’t comprehend how a writer or anyone at Netflix could greenlight such appalling content. We must demand the removal of this skit.”

Gervais responded to the backlash while speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Nihal Arthanayake: “I’m literally saying in the joke that I don’t do that. But people have a reaction. They don’t analyze it. They feel something – that’s what offense is. It’s a feeling. That’s why ‘I’m offended’ is quite meaningless.”

He went on to say that “99% of it is faux offense,” adding: “They’re not really offended. They just want to be heard. I’ll explain, ‘No, you’ve mistaken the subject of the joke with the actual target.’”

Later, he took to X to warn: “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.”

Ricky Gervais criticized by LGBTQ+ groups for SuperNature joke

In Gervais’ 2022 Netflix stand-up special SuperNature, he joked about “old-fashioned women. They’re the ones with wombs. Those f*cking 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 cocks.”

He later says: “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 cock. That’s all I’m saying.”

The Netflix special was condemned by LGBTQ+ rights group GLAAD, which shared a lengthy statement on X in which it said the set contained “graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes. He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric & spreads inaccurate information about HIV.”

The group added: “The LGBTQ community and our allies have made it very clear that so-called comedians who spew hate in place of humor, and the media companies who give them a platform, will be held accountable.”

Gervais had responded to the backlash before it unfolded, saying in SuperNature: “I talk about AIDS, famine, cancer, the Holocaust, rape, paedophilia… the one thing you should never joke about is the trans issue. They just want to be treated equally. I agree; that’s why I include them. But they know I’m joking about all the other stuff, but they go, ‘No, he must mean that.’”

Following the reaction, he told The Spectator: “My target wasn’t trans folk, but trans activist ideology. I’ve always confronted dogma that oppresses people and limits freedom of expression. It was probably the most current, most talked about, taboo subject of the last couple of years. I deal in taboo subjects and have to confront the elephant in the room.”

Ricky Gervais faces heat for Caitlyn Jenner jokes in Humanity

In his 2018 Netflix special Humanity, Gervais reminds the audience of the joke he made about Caitlyn Jenner at the Golden Globes, which was: “I’ve changed. Not as much as Bruce Jenner. Now Caitlin Jenner, of course, and what a year she’s had. Became a role model for trans people everywhere, bravely breaking down barriers and destroying stereotypes. She didn’t do a lot for women drivers.”

Elaborating on the backlash to this joke, he mentions how he found out that his “crime” was “saying her old name, and even acknowledging that she used to be a man… But she did. I saw him on the Olympic games. He won a medal, he was on telly all the time. A big famous man.”

Gervais later jokes about identifying as a chimp, saying: “If I say I’m a chimp, I am a chimp. And don’t ever dead-name me, from now on you call me Bobo. I’m going to have species realignment.”

Once again, Gervais was accused of being transphobic, with IndieWire writing in its review of Humanity: “Ricky Gervais’ new Netflix special opens with smugly transphobic Caitlyn Jenner jokes.” Elsewhere, Vox asked: “Does Netflix even care that Ricky Gervais’s SuperNature is rife with transphobic TERF ideology?”

And once again, Gervais had already addressed the backlash before it began. As he points out in the set, “The target of the joke is a celebrity killing someone in their car. Let’s not forget that.” He adds: “I’m a considered comedian. I like my jokes to be accurate and my targets to be fair.” 

In a later conversation with The Daily Beast, Gervais stated: “It’s like they’ve created a dogma around it, that this should never be joked about. But why shouldn’t it be joked about? It depends on the joke. That’s absurd.

“I’ve seen it with so many issues. People saying, ‘We want to be treated the same as everyone else, but not in jokes.’ And I want to go, ‘That’s asking for privilege, that’s not asking for equality.’ If you joke about everything, you joke about everything. Dogma used to be confined to religion and other cults, but now it’s come into identity politics. They want to shut you down.”

Ricky Gervais: Armageddon is available to stream on Netflix now, and you can check out more of our Netflix coverage below: 

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