Just because you are offended, it doesn’t mean you are right is the mantra Ricky Gervais and most great comedians have lived by throughout their entire careers. Ricky recently made a Q&A with his social media followers in order to respond to questions about the whole slap drama. All of the previous reports we made about him were confirmed by the comedian, who did say he would’ve mocked Jada Pinkett Smith’s boyfriend rather than her alopecia. However, he didn’t pull any punches when he talked about people who believe alopecia is an actual disability. Gervais does speak the truth when he hints there are much more life-threatening conditions than others such as alopecia or simple overweight. The difference is that Ricky mocked these people in his already famous confrontational comedic style.
Gervais made another defense of comedy by slamming Will Smith for slapping Chris Rock for making a simple joke. He is convinced that words are not violence, unlike actual violence. Also, he publicly called out Smith for not having the right to physically assault someone because he simply didn’t like one of his jokes, a tame joke at that. This is what Ricky said on the video: “That was like the tamest joke I would’ve ever told. Someone said it was joking about her disability. Well I’m going a bit thin, I’m disabled. I can park right up next to Tesco’s now [in disabled parking]. I’m fat, that’s a disease. I’m fat and balding.”
Has ‘The Slap’ changed comedy forever?
Although there have been other instances in which people physically assault comedians during one of their acts for not liking a joke, what happened at the Oscars is completely unprecedented. This is a privileged person who acted in violent fashion over a joke and initially got away with it. For the more edgy comedians such as Ricky Gervais, this might put them in peril in future award shows where other privileged celebrities are witnessing their jokes. Knowing people like Ricky, he will most likely continue telling his jokes and defending his right to express himself through his artform.
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