Gervais defends his ‘anti-trans’ jokes after Stonewall criticism
RICKY GERVAIS has defended his right to tell “taboo” jokes after Stonewall criticised his stand-up on transgenderism and homosexuality in a Netflix special.
The comedian makes a series of gags in his show Supernature, released on Tuesday, which tackle subjects including trans people and Aids.
The After Life creator was criticised by LGBT rights groups for being discriminatory against transgender and gay people. Stonewall accused the comedian of “making fun of trans people” and said “punching down is never funny”.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, a campaign group based in the US, said: “It’s full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes. He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric and spreads inaccurate information about HIV.” In a comment to The Spectator, Gervais said: “My target wasn’t trans folk, but trans activist ideology. I’ve always confronted dogma that oppresses people and limits freedom of expression.” Speaking on the BBC’S The One Show, Gervais said comedy should help people “get over taboo subjects”.
He added that joking about a difficult subject does not mean you have hostile views or oppose certain rights.
“I think that’s what comedy is for, really – to get us through stuff, and I deal in taboo subjects because I want to take the audience to a place it hasn’t been before,” he said. “Most offence comes from when people mistake the subject of a joke with the actual target.”
Gervais has previously explained that his jokes that appear to target particular groups are actually making fun of those who hold prejudicial views towards those groups.