Ricky Gervais: "Deep down, I want people to know I'm not a racist or a homophobe or a sexist"

The Hollywood Reporter

Ahead of hosting the Golden Globes for the fifth time on Sunday, Gervais insisted he isn't transphobic. He also won't mock people the color of their skin, their sex or where they were born. "They mustn't be the targets," he tells The Hollywood Reporter. "You mustn't make those things the target to be ridiculed. You shouldn't laugh at something they can't help. Yeah, I think that's a pretty good rule. Again, it's not a rule of comedy. It's my personal rule. Deep down, I want people to know I'm not a racist or a homophobe or a sexist." Gervais again insisted that his 2016 Globes joke targeting Caitlyn Jenner was not transphobic. "I was very careful that the joke was about her being a bad driver," he says. "The joke was about stereotypes. I started off being correctly inclusive saying she's brave, breaking down barriers. And then I (said) she didn't do a lot for women drivers." As for his reputation for telling jokes considered transphobic, Gervais adds: "I just say I'm not. And there's nothing else you can say, you know? Yeah, I'm not. I can justify the jokes, but I get it. Some people, when you deal with contentious issues or taboo subjects, the very mention of them is the sacrilege. That's why they stay taboo. People straight away, particularly with a comedian, if you're joking about a subject, they think you're anti it as opposed to pro it. I've tried to explain this in Humanity. It's an occupational hazard of being outspoken. I think offense is the collateral damage of free speech, and it's no reason not to have free speech. That's what I'd say — it's the lesser of two evils. Having free speech and some people getting upset by it is the lesser of two evils because not having free speech is horrendous."

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• Gervais has one Golden Globes regret -- his 2011 joke mocking Tim Allen: “Yeah, Tim Allen," Gervais tells The Hollywood Reporter. "Because I think he took it wrong. The joke was him and Tom Hanks. So I came out and said, 'Our next two presenters, the first has won five Oscars, combined box office of five billion dollars. And the other, Tim Allen.' Right? It's a fine joke. I'm teasing Tim Allen. But anyone standing next to Tom Hanks, unless it's Dustin Hoffman or Robert Redford or Robert De Niro, that could be me. But it happened to be Tim Allen. And I have nothing against Tim Allen. He's a good actor. He's probably a nice bloke. So even though there's no malice and I can justify it comedically and everyone laughed, I didn't want Tim Allen to think, 'Oh, that was written for me. Why me?' Well, because you were standing next to Tom Hanks."
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