A timeline of every time Ricky Gervais was accused of being transphobic

Ricky Gervais and his new Netflix show, SuperNature, have been accused of being transphobic and as a result have received a wave of online backlash. The American LGBTQ+ rights group Glaad has released a statement condemning Ricky Gervais and SuperNature, it says the Netflix special is “full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans masquerading as jokes.” But this isn’t the first time Gervais has been accused of transphobia and hateful language both on stage and online. Here’s a rundown of every single time Ricky Gervais was accused of normalising transphobic behaviour “jokes” and comments.

Back in 2016 Ricky Gervais deadnamed Caitlyn Jenner at the Golden Globes

Whilst hosting the Golden Globes in 2016, Ricky Gervais deadnames Olympian Caitlyn Jenner on stage. He also referred to her as a “man” and also discussed surgery and her genitals. Shortly after, Gervais told the Hollywood Reporter he is not transphobic. He says: “People straight away, particularly with a comedian, if you’re joking about a subject, they think you’re anti it as opposed to pro it. I’ve tried to explain this in Humanity. It’s an occupational hazard of being outspoken. I think offence is the collateral damage of free speech, and it’s no reason not to have free speech. That’s what I’d say — it’s the lesser of two evils. Having free speech and some people getting upset by it is the lesser of two evils because not having free speech is horrendous.”

In 2018 he came for Caitlyn Jenner again in a Netflix special

Ricky Gervais’ Humanity was released on Netflix in 2018 and it opens with a joke about dogs that can smell AIDS so already you know the bar is low. He also has an entire bit on Caitlyn Jenner where he repeats the jokes he said at the Golden Globes. However after each joke he adds: “I’d never tell a joke like that, it’s horrible. I didn’t do it, so you’re getting offended at a joke that doesn’t exist.”

He said he was going to dress up as a transgender activist for Halloween

In 2019, Ricky Gervais tweeted a photo of transgender acitivst, Jessica Yaniv, and captioned it saying: “I was going to dress up as something weird and creepy for my Halloween party, but I’m bucking the trend this year and I’m going as brave female activist Jessica Yaniv. This means I don’t have to wax my big old hairy balls.”

He says when words end in ‘phobic’ it means people want you to shut up

When speaking on The Daily Beast’s The Last Laugh podcast in 2020, Gervais defended himself against accusation of transphobia. He says: “most offence comes from people who take the subject of the joke with the actual target. And they are not necessarily the same.” He continues to say people who believe those who make fun of trans people must be transphobic are “odd” because it suggests “you can never make fun of a trans person for any reason – even if it had nothing to do with their trans-ness.”

‘But meet me halfway, ladies, lose the cock’

At the end of Ricky Gervais’ Netflix special, SuperNature, he says: “In real life of course I support trans rights. I support all human rights, and trans rights are human rights. Live your best life. Use your preferred pronouns. Be the gender that you feel you are. But meet me halfway, ladies. Lose the cock. That’s all I’m saying.”

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