On the heels of Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special “The Closer” drawing ire from many comedy fans for declaring himself “team TERF” (via USA Today), and inciting Netflix employees to walk out in protest, Netflix has stepped in it again. Viewers took to social media to call Gervais “transphobic” and warn Netflix that this will have serious repercussions.
“Ricky Gervais knows it’s easier to be transphobic than to be funny. Bigot comedy is dead easy to perform,” one user criticized. Another tweeted, “there is nothing edgy about more cis people like ricky gervais making money off ‘jokes’ at trans people’s expense. companies like netflix will lose because of this.” Several other users encouraged comedy fans not to watch the special, or to cancel their Netflix subscriptions. A few found what Chappelle and Gervais are doing to be lazy comedy that punches down, and one user lamented the fact that Gervais sees trans-folx as “a threat, something less than human.”
Gervais seemed to predict this by tempering his comments in his special with a disclaimer. “Full disclosure: In real life of course I support trans rights,” he said (via the New York Post). “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 that you are. But meet me halfway, ladies: Lose the c**k. That’s all I’m saying.”
Nicki
