Ricky Gervais slammed for joking about terminally ill children: ‘Some things are not funny’

nypost.com:

Netflix stand-up special “Armageddon.”In a clip Gervais posted to his social media pages last week, he jokes about making videos for sick children via the Make-A-Wish Foundation.“I’ve been doing a lot of video messages recently for terminally ill children,” Gervais explains. “Only if they request it, obviously.

I don’t burst into hospitals and go, ‘Wake up, baldy. Look at me twerking on TikTok.'”“I did a lot through the pandemic — presumably because they couldn’t even see their own family,” continued “The Office” co-creator. “It’s through Make-A-Wish Foundation.” Gervais said that if a kid requested him, he would “always say yes, and I always start the video the same way.”“Why didn’t you wish to get better?” the comedian deadpanned, drawing a mixed reaction from the audience. “What, you f–king retarded as well?” “The Invention of Lying” star told the crowd that he doesn’t “do that either,” adding that “these are all jokes.” “I don’t even use that word in real life, the R-word,” Gervais stated, telling the audience that he is “playing a role.” The five-time Golden Globes host claimed he was convincing because he’s “good.” “You wouldn’t level that accusation at other art forms,” Gervais argued in the clip, using Sir Anthony Hopkins’ role as Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs” as an example. “You wouldn’t go up to Sir Anthony Hopkins and go, ‘I saw you in ‘Silence of the Lambs,’ what, so you’re a cannibal, are you?'”The Post reached out to Gervais and Netflix for comment.