Ricky Gervais calls out cancel culture: ‘You shouldn’t have to go to court for telling a joke’

Gervais, known for his acerbic and often offensive style of humour, has railed against celebrity cancel culture

(Getty Images)

Ricky Gervais has spoken out against celebrity cancel culture, claiming that people who challenge others for saying things they don’t agree with “don’t agree with freedom of speech”.

Cancel culture is the practice or rejecting, ignoring or publicly opposing someone’s views or actions in order to deprive them of time and attention.

Speaking to Metro, Gervais, who is known for his acerbic and often offensive style of humour, defended his right to tell contentious jokes as “freedom of speech”.

“If it is choosing not to watch a comedian because you don’t like them, that’s everyone’s right. But when people are trying to get someone fired because they don’t like their opinion about something that’s nothing to do with their job, that’s what I call cancel culture and that’s not cool,” he said.

The controversial comedian made headlines last year as the host for the Golden Globes. Hosting the ceremony for the fifth time, Gervais was unapologetic as he brutally roasted some of the biggest names in Hollywood, calling them out for political correctness and being “woke”.

In the interview, he explained, “Everyone’s allowed to call you an asshole, everyone’s allowed to stop watching your stuff, everyone’s allowed to burn your DVDs, but you shouldn’t have to go to court for saying a joke that someone doesn’t like. And that’s what we get dangerously close to.”

Since his role in The Office, Gervais has received backlash on numerous occasions throughout his career. The comedian was criticised for joking about Aids in 2017, and was called transphobic the year before that over a joke he made about Caitlyn Jenner.

The 59-year-old actor said, “I always try to find a bigger subject and find an angle. That’s probably one of the reasons why I go to the dark side. It’s why I deal with famine, cancer, the Holocaust, AIDS – because people always get them.”

Gervais is currently writing the third season of his Netflix hit show After Life. Read The Independent's season two review here.