Ricky Gervais is at risk of being canceled again after revealing he’ll “laugh at the absurdity of death” in his new world tour and Netflix special, “Morality.”
The 63-year-old comedian has previously faced criticism after featuring controversial jokes about asylum seekers and terminally ill children in a 2023 show for streaming service Armageddon.
He came under fire after a video went viral on social media in which he referred to sick children as “bald” and asked people who requested to meet him through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, “Why don’t you want them to get better?”
Despite the controversy, the special won a Golden Globe Award and went down in history as the highest-grossing comedy of all time, grossing a staggering £1.41 million in a single showing.
Ricky said of his new show: “We’re all going to die. There’s nothing wrong with laughing about it. Morality looks at the absurdity of life. And death. Come on.”
The tour is set to begin later this year with dates yet to be announced and will see Ricky perform at some of his favourite arenas around the world and will also be filmed for Netflix.
Last year, the creator of “The Office” defended making a joke about terminally ill children, telling critics he would be “lucky” to have it removed from the Netflix special.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live’s Nihal Althanayake about the backlash, the comedian claimed the joke had been taken out of context, and refuted claims of “ableism”.
He revealed: “In the actual skit, I say, ‘I’ve been sending a lot of video messages to terminally ill kids lately, but only if they request it. I don’t pop into the hospital and say, ‘Wake up, baldy.’
“I joke and say I don’t do that. But people react. They don’t analyze. They feel something. And that’s an attack. It’s an emotion.”
Ricky continued, “So ‘offended’ is completely meaningless. What do you want me to change?”
The star’s joke sparked a petition calling for Netflix to remove the scene from his comedy special, and when asked if he had seen the specific wording of the petition, Ricky replied, “Good luck. That’s what I tell them. Good luck. I’ll retweet it.”
Former “X on the Beach” star Ashley Kane also slammed Ricky for joking about terminally ill children.
Ashley’s daughter, Azalea, passed away in April 2021 at the age of eight months after losing her battle with acute myeloid leukemia.
Reality TV star Ashley, 33, and her partner Safiyah Voraji have spoken openly about the grief of losing their daughter and are raising funds in her name to help other children battling cancer.
He posted on his Instagram Story: “I’ve actually been a big fan of Ricky Gervais, but I was watching his stand-up comedy the other day with my family and there were so many jokes about terminally ill kids, especially kids with cancer, that I had to stop.”
“Sometimes it’s not fun, especially for the parent left behind.”
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“A lot of things are being cancelled these days, but it’s okay to mock dying children.”
“I’m actually really upset about this.”
Elsewhere in the show, the “After Life” star joked that he plans to keep hiring private jets for the next 40 years to make sure the end of the world “will definitely happen.”
Ricky joked, “I’m trying to be more woke. Like, I love illegal immigrants. Sue me.”
“Sometimes I’ll go to Dover and I’ll see a freaking dinghy with 60 people in it and I’ll think: ‘Welcome! Women and children first. Oh no women, just you guys, right?'”
The comedian also said that people born in this century will experience middle age “very differently” to him.
He continued, “Fossil fuels, deforestation, global warming — it’s all my fault and the generation before me, the Baby Boomers.”
“So, young people who are 20 years old today will be locked up in their homes in prisons 40 years from now, wearing masks, scared and in pain, crying… they’ll be crying while joking like they are now.”
Meanwhile, in his 2022 Netflix special “Supernature,” he made jokes about transgender people, Adolf Hitler and AIDS.
His words were The Americans described it as a “dangerous” substance. LGBT Meanwhile, Stonewall accused him of “mocking transgender people.”
In response, he told The Spectator at the time: “My target was not transgender people, but the ideas of transgender activists. We have always confronted doctrines that oppress people and limit freedom of expression.”
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During the show, he spoke to the audience about cancel culture and transgender issues, saying, “Yeah, women. Not all women. I mean old-fashioned women, women with uteruses. Those damn dinosaurs.”
“I love the new girls. They’re great, aren’t they? I see a lot of new girls these days. Girls with beards and pussies. They’re as good as gold. I love them.”
“And now the old-fashioned ones are like, ‘Oh, they want to use our bathroom.’ Why can’t they use yours? It’s for women! They’re women. Look at their pronouns!”
Acting out the argument, he added, “Why isn’t this person a woman? ‘Yeah, it’s his penis’. It’s her penis, you f**king bigot! ‘What if he rapes me?’. What if she rapes you, you f**king TERF?”
Ricky previously admitted he was “aiming for cancellation” with 2023’s Armageddon and said he wanted to push the boundaries as far as possible with his long-awaited return to stand-up comedy.
He admitted he was determined to up the ante, even if it would negatively impact his long-term career prospects.
He told Heat, “One thing that I’m absolutely determined to do and can’t wait to get started on is my new stand-up show. It’s called Armageddon.”
“I’m doing it as if this is my last performance. It won’t be, but I want to give it my all. I want to work so hard that it gets cancelled. No, I just want to give it my all.”
“It’s about the end of the world and how we destroy ourselves for a variety of reasons, whether that be media stupidity or the actual end of the world.”
Rickey, who hosted the 2020 Golden Globe Awards, made jokes about Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein and Prince Andrew, and also touched on topics such as MeToo and ISIS, causing the A-list audience to wince during his opening monologue.
Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro and Gwyneth Paltrow looked stunned as Gervais mocked Felicity Huffman over the college admissions scandal, called James Corden a “freaking motherfucker” and slammed Judi Dench for “licking” his private parts during an eight-minute speech.
In a particularly blunt remark, he advised winners to avoid political speeches because “you have no say in anything to the public,” adding, “If you win an award, come forward, accept your little award, thank your agent and God, and get out.”