Ricky Gervais’ new Netflix show, airing on Christmas Day, has already caused controversy (Picture: Paul Drinkwater/NBCUniversal Media, LLC via Getty Images)
Ricky Gervais’ Netflix special nominated for a Golden Globe award after it sparked huge backlash.
Over 5,000 people signed a petition to axe ableist slurs from the 62-year-old comedian’s TV special, Armageddoon, which has now been nominated for a Golden Globe award.
The show has been shortlisted in the new category of best performance in stand-up comedy on television. Fellow nominees are Amy Schumer, Travor Noah, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, and Wanda Sykes.
Taking to social media with the news, Ricky wrote: ‘Record Breaking Tour, On Netflix Christmas Day, Golden Globe Nomination. What a cracking f***ing year Cheers #Armageddon.’
The Office star’s show will be released on Christmas Day, but it’s already sparked outrage.
In one part of the stand-up, which Gervais shared on his social media, he jokes about making videos for terminally ill children via the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
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At one point, he calls them ‘baldies’, and says: ‘Why didn’t you wish to get better? What, you f***ing re****ed as well?’
The comments have been slammed on Instagram, including by reality star Ashley Cain, who tragically lost his own daughter Azaylia to cancer aged eight months.
Ashley wrote: ‘I was actually a fan of Ricky Gervais but after watching his stand up with my family and hearing multiple jokes about terminally ill children and especially kids with cancer I had to turn it off.
‘Some things are not funny, especially to the parents that are left behind. You can get cancelled in this world for so much, yet making a mockery of dying children is ok? I’m so mad at this!’
In the special Gervais also tells the crowd that everything he’s saying are ‘all jokes’.
‘I don’t even use that word in real life, the R-word,’ he explained, adding he was ‘playing a role’ and claimed he was convincing because he was ‘good’.
Called Demand Netflix to Remove Ricky Gervais’s Offensive Skit Mocking Terminally Ill Children, the petition how has 5,081 signatures at the time of writing.
It was started by a woman whose child, Katy, ‘bravely battled cancer’. She called the skit ‘deeply hurtful’.
Gervais made a joke about terminally ill children in the Netflix special(Picture: Mike Marsland/WireImage)
She continued: ‘It mocks the courage and resilience of these young fighters who face their illness with grace and beauty despite their baldness.
‘Ricky Gervais’s jokes were not only distasteful but also heartless. They are a slap in the face to not only the children battling these serious illnesses but also their parents and families who stand by them through this difficult journey.
‘His words have offended an entire community – those dealing with childhood cancer.’
Others took to the comments section of the petition to explain why they have signed, many of whom have been affected by the issue.
‘Signing because my cancer warrior went through hell. She isn’t a punch line and neither are all of these other warriors that had their childhood ripped away from them. I’m signing this for the families that witnessed this torture and suffered along side their babies,’ one wrote.
Another said: ‘I am a childhood cancer survivor. I have fought many ugly battles to save my life. This man has NO right using our stories as jokes. Using children who are dying, as a comedy skit.
‘Calling terminally ill children, ‘baldy’ and ‘re****ed’ is just disgusting. The fact that Netflix is allowing this skit to be aired is even more disheartening.
‘Childhood cancer is not a joke and not meant to have comedy skits use our pain and suffering for views/content. We don’t get enough funding and research as it is, and now we’re getting made fun of for dying. What is this world we’re living in.’
Charity Scope shared a statement in response to the clip, saying it ‘didn’t accept’ his explanation to ‘try and justify’ his language.
He starred in and wrote the popular Netflix show Afterlife (Picture: PA)
‘We wish we were surprised by reports that Ricky Gervais has used ableist slurs in his new Netflix special,’ it began.
‘Language like this has consequences.
‘And we’re just not accepting the explanation that Gervais uses to try and justify this language.’
The post continued: ‘He argues that he wouldn’t use this language in “real-life”. But his stand-up routine doesn’t exist in a parallel universe.
‘The stage is real. Netflix is real. The people this kind of language impacts are real.
‘Disabled people already face negative attitudes, and the media has an enormous role to play in improving understanding.’
It went on to add that ‘joking’ about this kind of language ‘trivialises it’ and ‘risks normalising the abuse that many disabled people face on a day-to-day basis’.
‘It’s frustrating that we are once again having to call out a public figure for using this kind of harmful language,’ it said.
‘But we need to be absolutely clear that this kind of language isn’t acceptable.’
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The Netflix special is airing on Christmas Day.