Ricky Gervais’s Golden Globes performance was amplified by the worst people

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Did you see that Ricky Gervais is some kind of new “cause” for the MAGA types? It’s true. His Golden Globes monologue and hosting work was widely praised in Republican circles. They loved that Gervais told “liberal Hollywood” to shut up about “political issues.” Meanwhile, Michelle Williams made an emotional speech about a woman’s right to choose, Ramy Youssef thanked Allah in his speech, and Russell Crowe wasn’t there to accept his award, so he sent a message about climate change and the environment, because Australia is on fire. I just feel like we should be beyond listening to a white guy pretend like he hates every second of the job he’s performing because he’s “too cool”. We should be beyond listening to a guy tell a group of artists that they should STFU about injustice or bigotry or feminism in general. But judging from the swarm of Gervais-defenders, I guess I’m in the minority there.

Or maybe not – the telecast’s viewership numbers were down from last year, with a viewership of 18.325 million. Deadline says the football lead-in was weaker this year, which might explain some of it, but I also saw a lot of people (people in the media/entertainment industry) say they were avoiding the show because of Gervais. I think people probably avoided it too because A) it was so early in the year and B) there’s not one big movie or nominee to get behind.

So, maybe the Hollywood Foreign Press Association is starting to get the idea – perhaps we don’t need a racist transphobic white man tellin’ the audience to STFU about politics or whatever. So…the HFPA might go back to Tina & Amy?

With Ricky Gervais promising he’s hosted his last Golden Globes, Page Six is told that some other old favorites may be making an unexpected return. Amy Poehler and Tina Fey also said they were hanging up their microphones after ending their three-year run in 2015. But buzz around the awards on Sunday was that their teams are in early talks with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association about a comeback. Reps didn’t get back to us.

[From Page Six]

Amy and Tina are not perfect people with perfectly woke jokes, but I always enjoyed the hell out of their monologues. They are such good friends, they have such chemistry together, and you could always tell that they really tried to strike the best possible tone – silly, funny and shady with a dash of politics. You know who I think should also be considered? Tiffany Haddish. Put her with someone though, so they can riff off each other like Tina & Amy.

Also: for a full 24 hours, Gervais has been tweeting and retweeting about his Globes gig, especially the most positive reviews. He included this retweet of… Piers Morgan, who thought Ricky did a good job. Can we just acknowledge that the worst people in the world loved Ricky’s work?

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77 Responses to “Ricky Gervais’s Golden Globes performance was amplified by the worst people”

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  1. Mrs. Peel says:

    I love Gervais – he was the highlight of the GGs for me. We need more like him, not more obvious sycophants.

    • Jane'sWastedTalent says:

      Not a fan of sycophancy, but this really doesn’t have to be one or the other. How about someone who’s just funny and not irritating?

      • Carol says:

        Yeah, I thought Gervais could have been a little funnier. He had some good zingers (like the Ronan Farrow joke) but didn’t really find anything he said to be THAT funny. He seemed bored too. What was worse was the social, environmental and political pontification from some of the winners ie. Patricia Arquette and almost everyone else. Somehow, Michelle Williams speech didn’t come off as chastising, and was so well done. Loved her speech.

  2. tealily says:

    Well, they’re going to love it when they find out what vocal athiest he is.

    • Raina says:

      Ah man the MAGA bitches want this One? Gervais hates them. What is this line being drawn where vulgar sense of humor belongs soley to Repugnantz. There’s a difference between funny and evil, MAGA bitches, so don’t claim this one because y’all ain’t funny.
      I wanted to clean out my fb for 2020 and was too lazy so all I posted was Fukk Trump and watched the numbers drop. They did my work for me. Best numbers drop since my cholesterol levels went down

  3. Ramy says:

    Ricky Gervais did a geart job tbh . He was the only winner of that night

  4. Chaine says:

    Can I just say, I don’t watch any of the shows, in fact I don’t watch most of the movies or TV that are getting the awards! I only care about the fashion, so I watch the red carpet and read blogs like this to see what people were wearing. Unless Ricky Gervais shows up next year in custom Christian Siriano, I could care less about him.

    • Oui oki says:

      I don’t watch them either, but you can see the monologue afterwards on YT. There are also compilation vids of the best bits of his past Monologues. Do you not enjoy comdey at all? (Genuinely curious.) I enjoy the fashion too but not as much as Ricky.

  5. Ferdinand says:

    I didn’t love nor hate his Host duties.
    As for the part of telling artists to STFU, I think its not exactly what he meant? The way I understood it was “don’t try to act like the victims here. You’re privileged and lost touch with the real world long ago”.

    • Brandy Alexander says:

      That’s how I understood it too. And basically, was telling them to STFU because they are all hypocrites – lecturing on climate change and taking private jets everywhere, lecturing on Me Too and then going to work for companies that abuse their bottom tier workers. I thought those were valid points.

    • MC2 says:

      I agreed…until he retweeted that post from Piers Morgan. Since he co-signed that he “delivered a glorious kick in the globes to Hollywood’s woke virtue-signalling hypocrites – and exposed them as a bunch of shameless two-faced charlatans”, maybe that is what he meant. When people show you who they are, believe them.

  6. MrsBanjo says:

    Someone yesterday said that they love his roasting of fragile celebrities and I’m just like, “Hon, he IS a fragile celebrity.” He’s a racist transphobe whose ego is just as fragile as theirs and he whines like a toddler when faced with any kind of criticism. He also makes a shit-ton of money working in the same industry as them, so how exactly is he any different or better.

    • Modiglia says:

      Yup – when Piers thinks you’re right, then you couldn’t be more wrong. It was basically pile having Don Trump Jr host.

    • Cindy says:

      THIS. THIS SO MUCH.

      I don’t hate Gervais’ schtick or comedy – I hate that he’s so celebrated for mocking Hollywood privileges when HE HAS ALL OF THEM. It’s like Adam Sandler woke up one day and decided that his whole comedy schtick is going to make fun of white privilege. Like… cool, but you’re not really the most appropiate person to be mocking that.

      And if you just think about it, mocking Hollywood celebs at an awards show is far from taking any courage. It’s almost cowardly. Tell me, if any of those celebs went out of their way to explain how offended they felt and how they aren’t attending any more events hosted by Gervais – how will the public perceive that? That they are humorless, frail little egomaniacs, and that Gervais is just as cool as he thinks he is for pissing them off. Hell some people yesterday were calling them that just because they put a cringe face while he was talking.

      And finally – people have been calling Hollywood actors hypocrites for YEARS. Comedy Central has done those Roast things for YEARS. Gervais has hosted the Globes himself with the same schtick for YEARS. I’m just mindblown anyone would find anything he did even remotely new or revolutionary.

      • noway says:

        Sounds sort of like Trump. I mean the Maga crowd praise Trump who is basically the antithesis of everything they claim to believe in. He’s a rich, privileged guy who hasn’t had to work a hard day in his life doesn’t really believe in any religion other than the church of Trump, plus he’s a known adulterer. I personally don’t care about some of those things, but the MAGA right has been telling us all how that is bad for years. Trump is a racist and sexist and I guess that is part of what they identify with. Again, none of this is new. It’s just amazing people are bamboozled with this as it’s new.

        I do wonder with the it’s so fun to bash celebrities people, why do you get such a thrill out of telling people how hypocritical they are. Pot meat kettle. Especially when they often align themselves with people who so wanted to be in that crowd and are, like Ricky Gervais whose actually in it or Trump who was for most of his life. Please it’s like you only like people who agree with your way of thinking. I’m not being PC or woke, but please stop pretending you care about it being hypocritical. Most are just as hypocritical, telling others how to live a “socially conservative life” when you are out there doing whatever you want.

        As far as Gervais, he wasn’t funny as a host this time. It wasn’t well written, it was all screaming at how horrible these people are from a guy who makes his large fortune from Netflix now and the networks or BBC please without them he would be nothing. Talk about hypocritical. Plus it was old schtick and just not as funny. Watch the first couple of years of him hosting and you will see he was much better then. Same idea but more creative and he left the licking private parts 5th grade humor at home.

      • SilentStar says:

        Yes, when you offend everyone in the audience, but at the same time tell them “These are only jokes”, then it is cowardly.

        When he walks up to the abusive producers and hypocritical colleagues in person and has a serious conversion with them about how disgusted he is with their behavior, then I’ll call him courageous. When he declines contracts from unscrupulous companies and publicly declares that he can’t associate himself with unethical businesses, then I’ll call him courageous.

        Hiding behind comedy is cowardly, while receiving credit for false courage.

      • A says:

        And then when you point out, or god forbid, criticize Gervais, he flies off the ever loving handle and starts yelling about censorship. He is a quintessential thin skinned bully. He is capable of dishing it out, and delights in it, but he can’t take it himself.

        Then there’s the simple fact of the matter that this man openly, and gleefully, used the n-word, but hey, it’s cool because Kevin Hart, noted spokesperson for all black people everywhere, gave him permission. Also, don’t mention this, because he also criticized the HFPA for racism!!!! So that makes it all cool, and if you don’t support him, you’re just a triggered snowflake, don’t you know!

        The bar is so, SO low.

    • Pineapple says:

      You should change your name to Mrs. Bingo. XO 😘

    • Girl on fire says:

      Ricky is a comedian and that’s his job. This is coming from a black woman

      • fatladysinging says:

        Candace Owens is also a black woman, and she stans for Trump.

        Signed,
        Another Black Woman

  7. Middle of the road says:

    I agree to him to some degree though. When it comes to actual everyday politics. The taxes, the work force, immigration even, the rich 1%ers know nothing. When it comes to real world stuff they really should just sit down and shut up. However when it comes to climate change, abortion, and how ridiculous our healthcare is, I’m all for hearing what they have to say because in that sense they can relate. Sure they don’t suffer like we do but I’m sure having to pay an arm and a leg out of pocket for a broken bone doesn’t make sense to a millionaire just like it makes no sense to my Moroccan husband who doesn’t get why we aren’t more like Canada. And as for climate change they travel more frequently than we do so they can see firsthand what climate change is like around the world. So sometimes you pick your battles.

    • noway says:

      Does this mean Trump should shut up? Seems like it based on your comment. Personally, I don’t care who voices an opinion, free country and all. It’s up to me whether I want to listen to them.

    • A says:

      Are actors and people in the entertainment industry not also immigrants? Do they not work? Do they not pay taxes? Rich people make decisions on these things ALL of the time. People like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, the Koch brothers….all of these people do a lot of damage by lobbying for sh-tty policies (yes, including Bill Gates, I said what I f-cking said) and they do a lot to chip away at workers rights. But their opinions are accepted. But celebrities talking out about any of these things, in an incredibly transient industry, with people on their crew who work long hours with very little benefits, with a great deal of exploitation and wage theft, “know nothing.” Funny how that works.

  8. Jenns says:

    I think this tweet sums up perfectly how boring and predictable he really is. Note: this was posted before the GG even aired.

    https://twitter.com/GetDisneyPrime/status/1213826247865884674

    • Cindy says:

      “Singles out Eddie Murphy because better comedian with better career”

      LMAO.

    • MC2 says:

      That is hilarious! Damn, he’s predictable.

    • MrsBanjo says:

      That’s amazing and so accurate.

    • A says:

      I’m surprised this tweet didn’t go viral considering how scarily accurate it is, may be it got lost in the sea of self righteous tweets by MAGA rats. Those people are constantly talking about how bad Hollywood is while supporting the sexual predator in White House. Peak hypocrisy.

      • Cindy says:

        I don’t even understand why those MAGA rats are bothered by Hollywood’s hipocrisy. Like, you disagree with their speeches. You hate when they talk about politics because you disagree with their politics. It has nothing to do with not practicing what they preach. You don’t like what they are preaching.

    • Meg says:

      My God that tweet was spot on

    • Annetommy says:

      Love that card, so on point. The Office was excellent but I find him an adolescent adenoidal bore as a stand up.

  9. Scorpio ♏️ Rants says:

    I didn’t watch the GGs and what little I know of him seems annoying anyway. Her just looks smarmy, smug and greasy. Some how though I did smile a bit hearing about this. Too many Hollywood types of ALL political persuasions are opinionated but ill informed and using their stage time at award shows to lecture us plebeians just makes me roll my eyes hard. They have a right to their opinion of course, but I have a right to think the opinion of rich, coddled, live-in-a-bubble dilettantes isn’t worth my time or attention.

  10. Another Anne says:

    Tiffany Haddish would be awesome. Maybe Melissa McCarthy or Kate McKinnon. Keegan-Michael Key, Kenan Thompson. There are so many options of people who are funny but not nasty.

    Gervais can be funny, and joking about celebrities not living in the real world and jumping on private jets while complaining about climate change is legit. But aside from his past problematic statements, his tone was all wrong. Too much ‘I don’t care” and “eff off” is a buzz kill. He was more whiny than funny.

  11. Oui oki says:

    I loved his monologue. It was so enjoyable. I don’t agree that it’s bad for celebs to make their speeches political, but I don’t mind him saying it. I just love his comedy style. His new Netflix show is a little too sad for me though.

    • LNG says:

      Did you watch all the episodes? If not, I highly recommend that you stick it out until the end.

  12. The Recluse says:

    At least he is for animal protection. He loathes trophy hunters.
    He did seem to be calling out hypocrisy a lot, you know, taking money from Apple for projects while they have lousy labor practices abroad.
    Ricky is a mixed bag of flaws and good intentions, I guess. Some things he gets right. The rest….

    • Xi says:

      He took money from Apple . so I’m not hearing it from him.

    • Erinn says:

      Yeah, pretty much. He can have the right intentions on some things I find important, and he definitely is talented when it comes to his job.

      But he’s really a mixed bag when it comes to his takes on things. He tries too hard to be ‘over it’ in a lot of ways, but that’s not ALWAYS a bad thing, but it depends on the audience. I don’t take issue with him calling out “okay, while you’re all patting yourselves on the back, take a look at the things you’re doing that hurt the planet more than the average person” – because I really do think there’s a lot of internet activism when it comes to celebrities. They’ll rally around a cause, but don’t seem to really change their own behavior in support of it. But that’s a problem with regular folk, too.

      He’s said things that are in no way okay, and that I would never agree with. Saying he’s problematic is an understatement. I don’t think he’s a genuinely evil person deep down… but I also recognize that he’s looking out for number one first and doesn’t grasp why the things he says are wrong, I hate the ‘old guard’ type of comedians complaining about the world being too PC when they’ve done nothing to adjust their career for the times, or their new/current level of fame. Jokes that could land when you’re an underdog aren’t going to land when you’re no longer punching upwards because you’ve become one of the people you used to punch at. And it’s a lot easier for them to blame the world changing than it is to accept that they’ve lost the spark they used to have.

  13. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    The right claps for anyone negatively touching the left, especially Hollywood. RG slams everyone so their little celebration will be short-lived. If there were televised awards for Wall Street, tempers would flare (I can recall a certain comedian named Wolf at a dinner). It’s all perspective, and everything today is political cannon fodder. Unfortunately.

  14. Lena says:

    Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong?

  15. trout predator says:

    Just let Karl host it next year.

    In seriousness, I’ve liked Gervais since the podcast days – he really was a fabulous host and the show is still something I come back to every year or so and listen to again from the beginning. However… as the years have gone on it’s become more and more likely that Stephen Merchant was the writing talent in that group. David Brent *is* Gervais – but through Merchant’s comedy filter, to make him the loveable idiot instead of the execrable fool.*

    *Though to be fair, I’ve had a huge crush on SM for almost 10 years, so I may be a little biased. 🙂

  16. Cindy says:

    Eh, I thought his speech was stupid and goes to show you can always shit on someone’s behavior if you look at it from another angle. If celebs never talked about political issues they’d also get criticized for living in their own bubbles and not using their platform for good. Anyway, my problem isn’t anything he said – it’s that he’s not a good emmisary for that message.

    And, honestly, idk who the hell he thinks he is to criticize anyone for that when 3/5 tweets he writes are about reminding the world what an atheist he is and how stupid people who believe in God are. Since when are you a theologist, Ricky?

  17. paranormalgirl says:

    Great message, wrong messenger. My opinion.

  18. anna says:

    you know what – i’d go for Graham Norton for Glolden Globes, and Oscars with Phoebe Waller Bridge.

    • Pineapple says:

      Anna you are a freakin’ genius. Graham Norton is wondrous. He would do well in a room of drinking celebs. Graham and Phoebe. Although, I love the Allie Wong suggestions also. What’s with the total lack of host creativity? “Let’s have Ricky for the 13th time.” As Lainey says, someone is NOT doing their work.

      • anna says:

        hahahah thanks 🙂 it is my job to do those things, just not in usa. but i’d let Graham host it as a show and then get them involved with some dug up stories…. just to shake it up a little. i love that guy. even after all these years. and celebs let him do whatever to them. i got ricky’s speech but i’m all for – if it’s showbizz let’s get some of that cake and pretend we eating it there while in our pj’s.

    • noway says:

      Love that idea!!! Graham Norton is funny and we haven’t seen him before. Honestly, Ricky schtick to me is just a bit old and he was lazy this time. However, with the fifth time hosting maybe this is the best he can do. I expected his I don’t care it’s my last time crap and his you are all privileged rich people, but I thought he would be a little bit more clever in his writing of the jokes. They was a lot of you stink jokes and just not that funny to me.

  19. Patrizio says:

    He sucked. I didn’t laugh once at any of his jokes. He seemed angry which I find off putting in a comedian. Would love to see Pohler/Fey return. Their hosting was the best. Also, if someone wants to use their minute thank you speech to give their opinion-last time I checked it was a free country.

  20. Tina says:

    Love love Ricky! He is awesome

  21. deezee says:

    I’m not surprised viewership was down. I really don’t think who the host is, is a reason for it at all. People just consume TV differently now. Sure some want to watch these things unfold live but more and more, people are willing to wait. They’ll find out the winners later, watch the speeches that interest them on youtube and maybe watch the hosts monologue too if enough buzz.

    • noway says:

      People do consume tv differently, and now we can just watch some of the highlights online later if we want to. Honestly, especially for shows like this where there isn’t a big well viewed movie or tv show people want to know if it wins, watching portions of the show is just easier.

  22. Louise says:

    Piers Is an idiot, wasn’t he the one bitching about Megan. Tiffany is loud and an attention whore and rather unfunny for a supposed comedian..so nope.

    • MrsBanjo says:

      Pfft to each their own, but imo Tiffany is hilarious. She owns when she doesn’t do well, which is not something comedians generally do.

    • kerwood says:

      And Ricky Gervais IS funny? What’s so funny about a man who CLAIMS he’s better than everybody in the room but can’t seem to stop coming back to be their HIRED HELP?

      Tiffany Haddish would be the best thing that ever happened to the Golden Globes, but I can imagine that the idea of a Black woman hosting the show would cause a mass suicide amongst the MAGA set.

  23. kerwood says:

    I can’t believe that so many people are so threatened by MOVIE STARS that they take such pleasure in a toad like Gervais, ‘telling them off’. And does anybody really think that the people in that room went home determined to mend their ways? Please. Most of the people in that room know what a loser Gervais is and barely tolerated his bullshit.

    Every year that he’s done the GG’s, he sneers that he doesn’t care. Yet he’s returned over and over and over again. The audience isn’t laughing WITH Gervais. They’re laughing AT Gervais.

    And I can’t help laughing at all the people who cheer for Gervais while using their Apple computers and their iphones while watching Netflix.

    • Prairiegirl says:

      Oh, 1000% this! ^^^^

    • A says:

      He is the exact same thing that he criticizes other people for.

      “Don’t make political speeches” says the man whose entire monologue was incredibly political.

      “You’re all sell outs for working with Apple!” says the man who continually comes back to host the GGs, after repeatedly saying he’s finished.

      “Hollywood is full of self-important hypocrites!” says the man who, in spite of everything, gives off the stench of every middle aged white man who’s desperate for approval and terrified of a world that’ll leave him behind without having ever included him in the first place.

    • Jane'sWastedTalent says:

      I love all of these comments!

      As far as being threatened by movie stars (and it *is* hilarious. Contemptible, but hilarious), it’s real, and it’s a definite cultural trait of the right. I’ve noticed over the years that a huge number of right-wingers are extremely fixated on entertainers. Oh sure, they hate the celebrities and their opinions to the point of apoplexy… but their little authoritarian selves can’t get over the fact that these people are FAMOUS- so they must be IMPORTANT- and that means everyone will blindly obey them, just as the right-wingers themselves blindly follow their own ‘celebrities’/’pundits’/professional jackasses. So they follow Hollywood with keen interest- even though they’re enraged by every word they hear. One more recipe for the mental illness smorgasbord.

      Even if someone never discusses politics, you can almost always predict how they’ll vote based on their attitudes about this.

  24. Ana Maria says:

    well, I guess I’m part of the worst people on this Earth, because I love Ricky Gervais

  25. Prairiegirl says:

    Gervais’ monologue on Sunday night was lazy and predictable. Enough with him already. Give us someone who wants to be there and is prepared to put in an effort to entertain us.

  26. TG says:

    What makes Rick’s demolition job all the more devastating is that he has set the tone for the rest of the awards season.

  27. Mariettaj81 says:

    I used to find him funny but he’s just so angry all the time. So I didn’t watch bc he was the host. And most of the movies this year I haven’t see yet. I usually always watch the Oscars tho. Although, last year was kind of annoying.

  28. Vanessa says:

    Do the MAGA crowd and Piers Morgan know that Ricky Gervais is not one of them?

  29. Chrissy says:

    Why does everything have to be so black and white? When did we become THAT divided? I am an extreme liberal who has no MAGA in me at all, and I thought he was funny. And did a great job. I don’t think we have to politicize everything. And, I think Patricia Arquette, Michelle Williams and others had great points, I think we can be both: make fun of ourselves and be aware.

    • Léna says:

      Thank you so much for this comment. I believe even people from different political side can laugh about the same thing as me. Doesn’t mean I am less liberal. It’s okay and thank God some people can laugh about the same things despite differences.

  30. Mrs. Darcy says:

    He had some valid points and was brave in bringing up the Epstein stench in the air, but his delivery and tone have become so brittle and angry that I don’t find him funny, even though the jokes were well written his pacing also seemed stilted and weird compared to previous Globes. I also felt this way with his last standup/Netflix special. Grumpy angry men who berate an audience for not laughing, I know it’s his shtick now but I find it unpleasant to watch. He used to be more silly and self deprecating, not sure what happened.

  31. Birds eye view says:

    i laughed out loud at his James corden joke.. hilarious.