Ricky Gervais put a bunch of Karens in their place Wednesday after they tried to petition him to change or remove a joke from his latest Netflix special, “Armageddon.”
Gervais’ joke apparently focuses on how busy he is making videos for terminally ill children supported by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, according to an interview with BBC 5 Live. In it, Gervais says he doesn’t go into hospitals and say “Wake up, baldy!” He then says, “Why didn’t you wish to get better? What, you fucking ret**ed as well?”
And of course, all the Karens came out to scream hysterically that Gervais’ joke wasn’t funny. In fact, they hated it so much they started a petition to have Gervais censored by Netflix, and more than 6,000 people were apparently comfortable removing his freedoms (and likely their own — I mean, we’re talking about a country full of people who thought Brexit would save their National Health Service, they’re absolutely stupid enough to remove their own freedom of speech).
“I’m literally saying in the joke that I don’t do that. But people have a reaction. They don’t analyze it. They feel something — that’s what offense is. It’s a feeling. That’s why ‘I’m offended’ is quite meaningless. What do you want me to change?” Gervais told the radio program, adding he felt “99 percent” of the response was “faux offense.” (RELATED: Ohhhh, Now We Understand Why They Wanted Andrew Schulz To Edit His Comedy Special)
“They’re not really offended. They just want to be heard,” he probably accurately analyzed. “Of all the millions of people that watched it and loved it, only a few don’t like it,” he added. “If I give them special attention and try and placate them, I’ve annoyed the other millions of people that got the joke. They go, ‘No, you’ve ruined it for us!’ I’ve got a duty to the people that like it and get it. I wouldn’t sit down with a heckler would I? If I’m playing to 20,000 people, I wouldn’t stop the show and explain to them. I ignore them.”
“Armageddon” drops on Netflix on Christmas Day, and it sounds absolutely bloody brilliant.