Ricky Gervais Grilled For Anti-Trans Jokes In New Netflix Special

Ricky Gervais talked with “Late Night” host Seth Meyers on May 19, 2022.

NBC via Getty Images

British comedian Ricky Gervais, who released “SuperNature” with the streaming giant on Tuesday, is facing criticism for transphobic remarks he made in the comedy special. One of the remarks, Variety reported, included a joke about women with penises.

“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?” Gervais said. “Now, no one saw that coming. You won’t find a 10-year-old tweet of someone saying, ‘Women don’t have penises.’ You know why? We didn’t think we fucking had to.”

Gervais also made a joke indicating “old-fashioned women” have wombs while new ones have “beards and cocks.”

GLAAD, an organization that combats anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, issued a statement blasting the content in Gervais’ special on Tuesday:

We watched the Ricky Gervais “comedy” special on Netflix so you don’t have to. It’s full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes. He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric & spreads inaccurate information about HIV. 1/4

— GLAAD (@glaad) May 24, 2022

Attention Ricky and Netflix: people living with HIV today, when on effective treatment, lead long and healthy lives and cannot transmit HIV to others. U=U 2/4

— GLAAD (@glaad) May 24, 2022

Netflix has a policy that content “designed to incite hate or violence” is not allowed on their platform, but we all know that anti-LGBTQ content does exactly that. While Netflix is home to some groundbreaking LGBTQ shows, it refuses to enforce its own policy in comedy. 3/4

— GLAAD (@glaad) May 24, 2022

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. Meanwhile, there are PLENTY of funny LGBTQ comedians to support. 4/4

— GLAAD (@glaad) May 24, 2022

It’s not the first time Gervais has offended the LGBTQ community. In a 2018 Netflix special, he reflected on a transphobic joke aimed at Caitlyn Jenner that he made during a speech at the 2016 Golden Globe Awards, USA Today reported.

“I’m playing with the notion of stereotypes,” Gervais said of the joke in 2018.

Gervais said that he didn’t change as much as Caitlyn Jenner, a trans woman, in a year’s time and he joked that her car crash in 2015, which claimed the life of a 69-year-old woman, didn’t help stereotypes about women drivers.

“If you find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you,” the memo stated.