Actor Ricky Gervais defended the right of comedians to joke about the most sensitive subjects in light of the massive left-wing backlash to a leaked Louis C.K. routine in which he makes fun of Parkland students and “non-binary” people.
“Please stop saying ‘You can’t joke about anything anymore’. You can. You can joke about whatever the fuck you like. And some people won’t like it and they will tell you they don’t like it. And then it’s up to you whether you give a fuck or not. And so on. It’s a good system,” Ricky Gervais said in a social media post Monday.
“There is no subject out of bounds. People often get offended when they mistake the subject of a joke with the actual target. It all depends on the joke,” The Office star followed up.
In response to this sentiment, Gervais was questioned and attacked by many social media users — but he doubled down.
“As you probably guessed, I’m not a religious person, but my favourite line in The Bible is ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.’ It basically means ‘Oh, shut the fuck up. You’re a cunt too sometimes.’ Thanks Jesus,” he said.
In a series of tweets over New Years, he continued to respond to users, saying, “You can joke about anything. Just don’t actually be cruel to animals. You can joke about murdering people. Just don’t murder people. It’s really simple,” and simply, “Free speech is amazing.”
The comedian again sounded off Wednesday, telling his followers, “Remember kids, you should only laugh at a joke if, and only if, you find it funny.”
The Derek star’s comments come after a massive uproar erupted over a number of Louis C.K.’s jokes from a recently leaked stand up set.
Gervais occasionally starred in Louie, the FX comedy series starring Louis C.K. that was loosely based on his real life experiences as a comedian in New York City.
In the leaked audio, Louis C.K. can be heard lampooning the student survivors of the Parkland shooting, mocking “non-binary” people, and referring to his doctor as an “old fucking Jewish fag.”
This routine predictably led to much outrage from the political correctness police.
“This hacky, unfunny, shallow routine is just a symptom of how people are afraid to feel empathy. It’s much easier to laugh at our most vulnerable than to look at their pain directly & show them love and concern. Louis CK is all fear and bitterness now. He can’t look inward,” director Judd Apatow said.
However, Cameron Kasky, who actually survived the Parkland shooting, defended the right of Louis C.K. to make those jokes, saying, “it’s not my job to tell a comedian they’re being offensive. I believe comedy exists to be offensive.”
“I don’t particularly like that Louis C.K. went after the idea of the movement we started, but comedy is comedy and I don’t think me being offended by it should dictate whether or not it should be allowed to exist.”
The multiple-time Saturday Night Live host was previously a liberal favorite, but has seen his career in free fall since admitting in 2017 to masturbating in front of unwilling women.
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