Ricky Gervais Defends 'Taboo' Jokes After Facing Backlash for Netflix Special

justjared.com:

Ricky Gervais is speaking out amid the backlash surrounding his new Netflix special, SuperNature.

During his set, the 60-year-old comedian made a series of graphic anti-trans and LGBTQIA+ statements, causing significant controversy online. Ricky made an appearance on BBC One’s “The One Show” on Tuesday (May 24), where he discussed the criticism he’d received about his comments. Click inside to read more… “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, even for a split second,” he said. “Most offense comes from when people mistake the subject of a joke with the actual target.” He continued, “It starts and they go, ‘What’s he going to say?’ I tell the joke.

Phew, they laugh. It’s like a parachute jump — it’s scary, but then you land and it’s all OK. “I think that’s what comedy is for — getting us over taboo subjects so they’re not scary anymore.

So I deal with everything,” Ricky added. “And I think we second-guess the audience too much.” The controversy comes after Netflix faced a similar controversy last year with the release of Dave Chappelle‘s special The Closer, in which he made a series of transphobic remarks.