Gervais condemned for special's `anti-trans rants'

Following in Dave Chappelle’s footsteps, Ricky Gervais ridicules transgender women in his new Netflix comedy special. Like Chappelle, the British stand-up comic quickly drew backlash for what an LGBTQ advocacy group called “anti-trans rants.” In “SuperNature,” released Tuesday on the streaming service, Gervais jokes about “old-fashioned women. They’re the ones with wombs.”

He then imagines a conversation with such a woman who objects to sharing a restroom with a trans woman. “They are ladies; look at their pronouns. What about this

Gervais person isn’t a lady?” Gervais said, supplying the response: “Well, his penis.” In the hourlong special, Gervais defended his remarks as equalopportunity humor and not a reflection of his views on trans or other rights. But transgender

and LGBTQ defenders fired back. “We watched the Ricky Gervais ‘comedy’ special on Netflix so you don’t have to,” the media watchdog group GLAAD said. “It’s full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes,” along with anti-gay rhetoric and inaccurate statements on HIV.