Ricky Gervais Gets Transphobic: The Curious Difference in Reception Between Gervais in 'Supernature' and Dave Chappelle in 'The Closer'

British comedian Ricky Gervais' newest comedy special SuperNature was released on Netflix earlier today, and already people are taking issue with the comedian's brand of offensive comedy. Within the first five minutes, Gervais veers into the disparaging, through a series of transphobic jokes that are generating internet discussion.

Gervais' set started off controversial. To kick things off, he says:

 "Oh, women! Not all women, I mean the old-fashioned ones. The old-fashioned women, the ones with wombs. Those fucking dinosaurs. I love the new women. They're great, aren't they? The new ones we've been seeing lately. The ones with beards and cocks. They're as good as gold, I love them.

And now the old-fashioned ones say, 'Oh, they want to use our toilets.' 'Why shouldn't they use your toilets?' 'For ladies!' 'They are ladies - look at their pronouns! What about this person isn't a lady?' 'Well, his penis.' 'Her penis, you fucking bigot!' 'What if he rapes me?' 'What if she rapes you, you fucking TERF whore?'"

Now obviously, regardless of Gervais' personal brand, it's clear how those jokes could be seen as transphobic, or pushing damaging stereotypes about the trans community. We feel for them, and we wish comedians would stop using them as a punching bag.

However, what's been standing out to me about the furor that's starting to build on Twitter is the difference in reception between Gervais' transphobic set, and that of another comedian who has recently been criticized for transphobic jokes: Dave Chappelle.

Chappelle's reputation was seriously tarnished after the release of his Netflix special, The Closer. Not only did Netflix receive tremendous backlash from the LGBTQ+ community at large, but also from its own employees - several Netflix employees staged a walk out in protest of the streamer keeping the special up on its platform.

Despite The Closer's release being all the way back in October 2021, Chappelle's cancellation is evidently still in progress, as comedian John Mulaney was heavily criticized for having Chappelle open his Ohio show a few days ago.

However, viewer protests against Gervais in no way matches the vitriol by the LGBTQ+ community and its allies unleashed upon Chappelle - which, ironically, was what he was trying to push back against in his set.

While there are certainly tweets dragging Gervais for his jokes and criticizing the comedian for "punching down" on a community that already suffers a great deal, another large portion of tweets are equally committed to standing up for Gervais and his brand of no-holds-barred comedy. Some other tweets celebrate a return to being able to laugh without having to worry about "wokeness."

Conspicuously, there has been no word of another Netflix employee walk out in response to Gervais thus far.

Perhaps it's due to Gervais being able to hide behind the convenient excuse of his lifelong brand of being intentionally offensive - or perhaps it's because we've already been through it once recently - but there doesn't seem to be equal energy towards Gervais' jokes - which are arguably even more offensive than Chappelle's.  

While I interpreted Chappelle's The Closer as an imperfect man trying to make a statement and make sense of an unjust world, Gervais' jokes came across as straight up making fun of the trans community. The whole basis for his jokes was his struggle in trying to understand a trans woman he had known - Gervais clearly wasn't trying to understand at all, he was just repeating an argument.

Chappelle was earnestly attempting to engage in conversation with a group that has traditionally been hostile to him, and he gets dragged across the internet. However, when an offensive comedian decides to deride a community, he's celebrated.

Perhaps a rethink on how we're responding to these things is in order.

What do you think? Do you feel we need to reconsider how we've treated Chappelle and how we're treating Gervais? Let us know!

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