Celebrities
Sinead Butler
Apr 07, 2022
The Hollywood Reporter News
Ricky Gervais is known for dividing people with his comedy - and recently a clip has resurfaced where he discusses why he believes comedy should be polarising.
The snippet is from four years ago in 2018 when the comedian appeared on the US daytime talk showThe View to discuss his comedy special Humanity with panellists Whoppi Goldberg, Sara Haines, and Joy Behar. When the topic of offence came up - and Gervais had a lot to say on the subject.
"The thing about offence isn't it when people say they are offended it's like just because you're offended it doesn't mean you're right, you know?" Gervais said, which was met with a round of applause in the audience.
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"Offence is about feelings and feelings are personal - some people are offended by equality, so what? You know so you can't second guess people, if you try and please everyone you'll please no one.
\u201cJust because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right.\u201d - @rickygervaispic.twitter.com/cifE6fHsfC— Daniel (@Daniel) 1649189473
"With comedy as well I think you've got to deal with taboos and contentious issues and sometimes you deal in irony and some people don't get that but you know you can't legislate against stupidity otherwise you'll be doing nothing," he added.
"So if you're saying anything, you should polarise, you should polarise because everyone is different."
Since sharing Gervais's take on offence, the clip has received over 40,000 likes - much like his comedy, Gervais's opinion has divided people on Twitter.
There were many people who praised Gervais and agreed with his point of view on the matter.
A bit louder for the people in the back! Love this man.https://twitter.com/Clark1995Clark/status/1511436314788483076\u00a0\u2026— Hannah Simpson (@Hannah Simpson) 1649276464
Ricky says it so much better than I ever can.\nThis is exactly what humour is all about.https://twitter.com/Clark1995Clark/status/1511436314788483076\u00a0\u2026— Kev/Kyiv veni vidi ego bibi \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Kev/Kyiv veni vidi ego bibi \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1649237967
Tell em Rickyhttps://twitter.com/clark1995clark/status/1511436314788483076\u00a0\u2026— K.A.K (@K.A.K) 1649248434
I love himhttps://twitter.com/Clark1995Clark/status/1511436314788483076\u00a0\u2026— Mona\ud83d\ude0d\ud83c\udf3b (@Mona\ud83d\ude0d\ud83c\udf3b) 1649314476
I feel like he\u2019s the only one left with common sensehttps://twitter.com/clark1995clark/status/1511436314788483076\u00a0\u2026— \ud83d\udc86\ud83c\udffb\u200d\u2640\ufe0f (@\ud83d\udc86\ud83c\udffb\u200d\u2640\ufe0f) 1649284949
Although, not everyone agreed with Gervais's opinion on offence and made their feelings clear about it.
Says the white malehttps://twitter.com/clark1995clark/status/1511436314788483076\u00a0\u2026— alice (@alice) 1649276975
That\u2019s true. But it\u2019s not a comedians job to offend people.https://twitter.com/clark1995clark/status/1511436314788483076\u00a0\u2026— Kieran Yap (@Kieran Yap) 1649237585
And just because you like to be a d***head to people, doesn\u2019t mean you are right toohttps://twitter.com/clark1995clark/status/1511436314788483076\u00a0\u2026— AN (@AN) 1649260507
Agree with the notion but we should not make fun of people\u2019s diseases, behaviours yes, diseases NOhttps://twitter.com/clark1995clark/status/1511436314788483076\u00a0\u2026— Zainab Saccal (@Zainab Saccal) 1649221533
Yeah but doesn\u2019t mean you are wrong either.https://twitter.com/clark1995clark/status/1511436314788483076\u00a0\u2026— Ariana (@Ariana) 1649242560
The After Life star recently made headlines when he weighed in with his thoughts on Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars after the host made a joke about the appearance of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
"I would have made a joke about her boyfriend," he said, referring to when R&B singer August Alsina claimed that he was in a relationship with Pinkett-Smith. She later confirmed they were in an "entanglement."
Gervais also gave fans an idea of how he would've opened the Oscars, had he hosted the awards show and responded to a fan who asked whether Will Smith would have slapped him.
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