The last someodd 40 hours have been a whirlwind of controversy for Ricky Gervais, all because of his performance as host of the Golden Globes. It was a performance that had Scientologist jokes, career jokes, Mel Gibson jokes, Angelina Jolie jokes, and Hugh Hefner dick jokes. There are lots of little tidbits of information, and I’m just going to cover the major points, if I can. First of all, while the Hollywood Foreign Press hasn’t explicitly said whether or not they approved or cosigned Ricky’s comments, their president did say that Ricky had “crossed a line.” Also, it’s looking more and more like Ricky was either trying to get fired, or simply didn’t care that this was going to be his last Globes hosting duty. Ricky released a statement to TMZ:
Ricky Gervais doesn’t care if he’s ever asked back to host the Golden Globes”” … because he’s “not gonna do it again anyway.”
A smiling Gervais was weathering the storm in New York this morning — following his super-controversial statements at the awards show — when Ricky told us, “I think twice is enough.”
After the photog mentioned that Ricky’s fellow comics seem to be standing by the performance — Gervais replied, “Well, it’s nice to be loved by your peers … they stick by you.”
[From TMZ]
Ricky also took to his blog (which is having technical problems currently, probably from all of the people trying to access the header photo of Ricky in his gold mankini) to address some of the specific bitches and moans:
All the same conspiracy theories as last year too… “So and so was offended”… “hasn’t been invited back yet”… exactly the same as last time. “Paul McCartney was furious”… no he wasn’t. And nor was Tim Allen and Tom Hanks. I was drinking with them after.
Why do people have to embellish? They’re allowed to say they hated it. They’re allowed to say they didn’t find it funny, that it was tasteless, over the top, or whatever. But why do they speculate and make stuff up?
[From Ricky’s blog, via Huffington Post]
Now, I haven’t really given my opinion about this Ricky stuff – CB covered it yesterday. I thought he was really, really funny in the opening monologue – like, uncomfortably hilarious. But then throughout the evening, it did seem like, to borrow a word from Robert Downey Jr., it got a bit “sinister”. Less about the jokes and more about out-right insulting people. The “joke” about the Hollywood Foreign Press president just seemed mean to me. James Wolcott at Vanity Fair had an interesting piece about the overall tone of the Globes, and specifically the WTF-remarks of Ricky and Robert DeNiro.
Header photo courtesy of Ricky’s blog.
I loved him, he made an otherwise boring night fun. My ideal co-host Ricky Gervais and Chris Rock. It will be our loss if he does host. Cue Chris Rock.
I am grateful to anyone who’ll take the piss out of all these fools. I live and work in Hollywood and it is DELICIOUS to have someone make fun the way we civilians do amongst ourselves.
RG IS A FUNNY FUNNY CHUBBY LIL MAN!
Love how these gloriously sensitive Hollywood souls are so quick to recoil from Ricky’s “linecrossing”, or, gasp, “sinister tone”, when half of their product and utterances are linecrossing, sinister, and worse.
I thought he was awesome. It takes nerve to say the things he said. And while yes, some of the jokes were borderline tasteful, that’s what you get when you hire him to host 🙂
He was spot on with everything he said ESPECIALLY what he said about the HFP.
They’ll probably ask someone else next year. Whiny wee actors with their bruised ego’s will see to that. And the HFP will still have their Starry Awards Show. Which is all they care about.
Sounds like they don’t want him back and he doesn’t want to do it again so everyone gets what they want and this story will be over.
I love him!!!he is hilarious!
I didn’t watch the GG but I’m reading many positive comments on his performance from the public. He succeeded, no matter what the HFP’s president said.
SAME SCHTICK as last year. the live hollywood wax figures don’t like the jokes, the viewers at home like that Gervais is irreverent.
speaking of irreverent: damn, what I wouldn’t do to that geeky little man in the gold man panties……lookin good, ricky…..
What part of “dry English wit” escaped those responsible for hiring him? Of course, Americans call it “sarcasm” but it’s actually one and the same.
GV is funny, biting, and spot on. He said what many of us say on this site almost every day. And if they think CR is a better bet, they’ve obviously never heard any of his comedy routines. Yeah, I adore them both! 😉
These people need to get over it! They make MILLIONS of dollars and most of them are MEDIOCRE at best at acting.
Yeah perhaps they should tone it down a bit for the Oscars and get Joan Rivers to host. 🙂
Amazing. Great. He has massive ba**s to make jokes directly to Angelina and Depp’s faces. I love me some Johnny, but come on, I laughed at those jokes. I hope Depp took it in stride.
Gervais was funny – the Bruce Willis being Kutcher’s dad joke was hysterical!
LOVE YOU, Ricky!!
This awards show–actually all awards shows–are just so ridiculous and self-congratulatory…seriously…the Hollywood Foreign Press Association? Who ARE they and really, who cares?! Ricky Gervais was only giving the show and the attendees all the honor and respect they deserve. None. It’s a fun show to watch, but it’s all nonsense and I think a lot of the stars know that. And the ones that take themselves and this show THAT seriously probably need to have the piss taken out them a bit. Whatevs.
Didn’t watch…but that monologue was lol funny.
I thought de niros comments were way more WTF and borederline offensive than gervais’. 100%.
I agree with most of the posters.
He’s a comedian, that’s what he does.
I vote Robert Downey Jr for next year though.
He managed to get the whole room laughing WITHOUT treating anyone unkindly. That can be funny too.
I didn’t see a problem with him. Sure, some of the jokes might have been a little tasteless, or fallen flat, but that’s what happens with live comedy.
I loved Ricky Gervais, his opening monologue was the best part of the entire show.
@Stephy2585: The problem is people are bitching about his remarks being inappropriate too. It is all subjective. If they want to make everyone happy and not step on any toes then they should use the God awful idea the Oscars had and let other actors gush over one nominee a piece. It won’t be offensive, but it won’t be interesting or even watchable either.
I personally thought Robert Downey Jr. was almost as uncomfortable to watch as the opening monologue but not even close in terms of comedy.
I emailed the Hollywood Foreign Press and told them if they were going to get their panties in a wad over this I wasn’t going to watch the GG anymore. The only thing interesting was RG.
THe Pres of the HFP does need to back off on the bright oranged clown hair. If he doesn’t want to be a joke, stop dyeing his hair to look like one.
And get a sense of humor.
I love Ricky!
The HFP love this, look at all the free publicity for their annual ass kiss festival.
He’s not my style of humor- I watched the whole opening and I didnt even smile once. But I can appreciate what he is doing; and whats the difference between his jokes and that of any latenight host? Or improv series? Or celebrity blog? None…
I suppose hollywood wants to believe its still ‘glamorous’, even though that is LONG gone– so they get offended when anyone brings reality back in to the picture.
I loved his monologue and jokes throughout. And the joke about the HFP president was just a joke about him being old why would anyone find that offensive? Get over yourselves already. I notice at these award shows that the stars have no sense of humor and they forget that the show is being televised for us the audience and not them.
I love him too. Especially for being blunt, honest and above all, FUNNY!
The biggest problem with the show, I found anyway, was there were too many actors Blah Blah Blahing and not enough Ricky.
He was hilarious. HE dropped my jaw more than once and made me laugh each time he did.
I don’t know why they bother to broadcast the awards. Broadcasters complain time and again that They keep losing viewers and when they finally get someone worth watching they pull the plug on them and start complaining no one is watching again.
I only tuned in for Ricky and he didn’t disappoint.
No one actually cares about the Golden Globes, so Ricky just stirred up some press for them. When it’s time for the HFPA to pick a new host next year, all of this bullshit will be stirred up again and they’ll milk it some more. I’d be surprised if they don’t ask him back, but even if not he’s gotten them some attention. So, he did his job. That being said, I laughed.
Ricky was the only reason I watched…
Of course people care about the Golden Globes! It gives everyone here in LA a reason to borrow a pretty dress and have a party. And if your lucky you get a pretty paper weight too!
Oooh, just like Eddie Murphy/James Brown’s “Celebrity Hot Tub” gold lame shorts! Love it!
ITA, Sexy Brown Girl. Ricky made it a fun night and those who rolled with it in their speeches or in their reactions came across so much better than the others.
I only watched throughout the night to see more of him and what he was gonna say next! LOL
If anything I found De Niro’s remarks about the waiters being deported, MUCH more offensive. The MOST offensive statement of the night.
He was a total unfunny douche and I feel a little dirty that I thought he was so cool for so long.
Matt Damon was so “try hard” too, not funny at all.
All in all I think Ricky was entertaining and did what the Globes needed the most, some controversy beyond the questions of “how the f*#k did Angelina Jolie get nominated?”
I loved his joke about the bribes too sorry that was awesome.
I love Ricky and am actually a fan of the beloved ORIGINAL Office only. As well as the EXTRAS it’s worth noting that this parallels an episode of Extras where he gets banned for life from the Bafta’s (Brit Oscars) I think he was aiming for that. Well done Ricky! and not one person has noticed that the second season of his HBO show is premiering next week 🙂
He also said something along the lines of’ Wow, if people were offended by THAT, just wait until they see my live shows!’
He wanted to go way over the top this year to strengthen ticket sales for his comedy shows.
Regardless of that, he was funny as hell and he got the ratings to back up his performance.
He is Brilliant.. can’t wait to see his new show.. (really i am a normal person) an idiot travels or something like that on the sci chan I happened to see the promo heee larious just like him… too bad for those big babies.. geeze grow up if he needs an asst I am his girl….
I loved him. And I didn’t think he was mean…honestly! Also loved his interaction with Steve Carell 🙂
There’s always a way too much ass-kissing during these events, so it’s really refreshing to see something different now and then.
Hollywood arseholes calling other people’s output ‘sinister’ because it bombs their shitty vanity- Ricky, how much do I love you right now?
It takes guts to stand in front of people and rip the piss, but those hoes just hand you material on a fucking platter. Hardly a word of exaggeration. I loved every golden moment.
I didn’t watch the show (and never plan to), but did watch his opening after so many people were writing about it. He was fantastic! But then I love him anyway.
I personally thought Robert Downey Jr. was almost as uncomfortable to watch as the opening monologue but not even close in terms of comedy.
I also felt that Robert Downey Jr’s jokes were more offensive and less funny than anything RG said.
i loved him… basically the only reason i watched was because i found out he was hosting it just recently… he made the whole thing is bearable by watching famous peeps squirm
Hope they invite him back!
@ crtb
I cringed during RDJ’s “joke”, as well. It also seemed a bit insensitive to his wife.
Initially, I thought he was a bit cruel, funny, but still cruel. But 2 days now, seeing the clips of his opening monologue, SATC, Hefner jokes, etc., I think he was awesome. I also now think that RDJ took it in stride and wasn’t really bitter as I first thought. DeNiro’s speech too. It was initially wtf-ker, but now it’s no big-deal. Insults? I don’t think so.
he was awesome – people need to not take themselves so serioulsly – he was funny and making fun is awesome! he said what most people thin anyway. Being able to laugh at yourself is a gift. We are all fucked up!
BTW – his mankini rocks!!
i think he had balls to make those jokes right to their faces but it’s not really the kind of thing i find that funny. if anyone is offended they’re really need to take the stick out of their ass though. the fact that hollywood has seventeen thousand award shows just shows how self congratulatory they all are. what’s wrong with taking the piss at one of them!!
Ricky didn’t say anything that everyone didn’t already think or know anyway. He’s funny because it’s ALL TRUE! And as for it being sinister – well – Hollywood is sinister so they got what they give. I adore Ricky, he looks HOT in that mankini, and he is 100% my Brit crush. He kicks ass over Russel Brand. Go Ricky! (call me, hun! LOL)
Ricky was interviewed here in the UK last year and asked if he was hosting the GGs again. He said he couldn’t believe they had asked him back and he was going to be even more offensive to ensure he wouldn’t be invited back a third time.
He definitely had no intention of presenting again.
Why is Deniro getting a free pass for those deportation jokes? That was a huge wtf to me and as a latin person I was offended. Who wrote that for him? What were they thinking? I cringed during his speech more than through any of rickys jokes.
Team Gervais! =)
It’s not like Ricky invented this stuff about people and was trying to publish it for cash. If they don’t want it brought up in public, they should’t live that way. ANd if they are not ashamed, they should have a little self-awareness and humor about their absurd lifestyles.
Not a big fan of Ricky, but his monologue rubbed all the right people the right way as far as I’m concerned.
@Gabs
I wondered the same thing.
Only reason I can come up with for the free pass DeNiro got for his blatently politically incorrect comments is that the current president is a Democrat and nobody in Hollywood—or the media—cares that much about deportations unless they can use the issue to make Republicans look bad.
I think DeNiro was amazingly ballsy to confront the audience with a fact they’d rather not touch.
I adore Ricky Gervais- he’s hilarious and was the only reason I even watched the Golden Globes. I loved all the jokes, even the sinister ones.
Rumor has it that the media masters took him backstage for a while to give him a proper dressing down.
It’s not an insult if it’s the truth.
At such a big event it’s IMPOSSIBLE that organizers will send their presenter on stage not knowing what he will say. It’s all show.
Maybe HFPA did something to really piss him off prior to the show so he didn’t give a sh-t.
Read the James Wolcott at Vanity Fair, it made sense about people just staying home if they were so “over it.”
Made me think of Lainey, she went on and on for days (or weeks) about how lame the Peoples Choice awards are. Why? Did they ban E or something. Just ignore it if you think it’s so lame. I didn’t watch them but didn’t feel the need to trash them continually.
Love him! Sure hope he comes back to do it again!
I like You too
Thanks for Your show, Ricky