I imagine you were all expecting me to write a scathing review of Ricky Gervais’s recent diatribe at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards. Well you would be wrong. Because you see, that is precisely what Ricky is counting on. When he stands there, obnoxiously pimping his own ego in front of the world’s most caring and compassionate people, he is doing it for the attention he so obviously craves. Yes, it was a truly disgusting display (not to mention a staggeringly apt symbol of toxic white male privilege) to see this abhorrently wealthy japesmith spewing his vile alt-right propaganda disguised as ‘jokes’ directly into the faces of the humble and benevolent Hollywood glitterati. Imagine getting up on a stage to say things purely for attention at the expense of a roomful of such modest humanitarians? I am guessing he was paid a great sum of money as well in order to degrade the likes of Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Lawrence, so in essence, he was literally PAID to attack women much more vulnerable and fragile than he. If Meryl Streep had been offered the job of hosting, no doubt she would have been paid a lot less. You cannot make up hypocrisy like this and my heart bleeds for the poor actresses who have to live on a mere $15 million per movie while the likes of Kevin Bacon probably earn three times as much just for appearing in a Logitech commercial. No doubt you predicted that I would criticize him for violently attacking Greta Thunberg when he mentioned her in a ‘joke’ that I did not quite understand but nevertheless perceived as distasteful. I mean, there’s nothing more pathetic than seeing a grown man shouting incoherent insults at a brave 17-year-old climate activist in the hope that Alex Jones or Ben Shapiro will finally invite him round to dinner. But you could not have been more wrong. Because the aim of this article is to draw attention to the one thing Ricky Gervais said that I completely agree with.
In the middle of his spittle-infused obsessive right-wing gibberish, Gervais appeared to have a moment of clarity. One single sparkling jewel of progressive purity on an otherwise tarnished bracelet of begrimed bigotry. He refused to acknowledge the deaths of Hollywood stars in 2019 because the list was not diverse enough. When he said this, there emanated a nervous ripple of laughter throughout the crowd which I assumed was due to them being traumatized into a state of confusion from his previous assault on them. As far as I could see, this was the one statement in his opening speech Gervais had intended to be taken seriously, but alas, his reputation preceded him and worked to his disadvantage. Throughout his routine, we were given glimpses of various famous faces reacting to Gervais’s cruel barbs, and let me tell you, it was gut-wrenching to see the pain etched all over their otherwise flawlessly botoxed features. No wonder the one sensible sentiment in his hateful onslaught on these vulnerable people was lost in a tide of bewilderment. I whole-heartedly supported his decision to omit tributes to the deaths of white people until more actors of color are included. It’s just a shame that this rare moment of enlightenment and sincerity was lost among his cheap attention-seeking one-liners. Let this be a lesson to you Gervais: Hollywood does not appreciate your shallow demand for recognition. The best thing about the entire situation is that this was your final opportunity to spread your cream cheese of ignorance (your loathsome opinions) across the bagel of tolerance (Meryl Streep’s face), and good riddance.
