Following J.K. Rowling’s support of author and cisgender woman Maya Forstater — who penned a lengthy post on Medium about losing her job after speaking up about the negative impact of gender identity rights — Ricky Gervais posted a series of tweets that have come under fire from the trans community.
Early on Saturday, the comic tweeted a reply to satire account Jarvis Dupont, which voiced concern from the perspective of a trans woman. “Those awful biological women can never understand what it must be like for you becoming a lovely lady so late in life,” Gervais wrote. “They take their girly privileges for granted. Winning at female sports and having their own toilets. Well, enough is enough.”
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After being told “Kindness is magic. Try to remember that” by another Twitter user, Gervais responded: “Exactly. We need to protect the rights of women. Not erode them because some men have found a new cunning way to dominate and demonize an entire sex.” The tweet received numerous responses from those expressing concern for Gervais.
The comedian continued to reply to Twitter users throughout the morning, including asking people to report him if he’s said anything “transphobic.”
Those awful biological women can never understand what it must be like for you becoming a lovely lady so late in life. They take their girly privileges for granted. Winning at female sports and having their own toilets. Well, enough is enough.
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) December 20, 2019
Exactly. We need to protect the rights of women. Not erode them because some men have found a new cunning way to dominate and demonise an entire sex.
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) December 20, 2019
One user asked him to clarify whether he was joking in his tweets: “So are you telling a joke or taking a stance? Cause if it was a joke it falls flat.”
Gervais responded, “That’s why it was free.”
He hasn’t even realised I’m playing along with a spoof account
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) December 21, 2019
Another Twitter user asked Gervais, “Can you clarify if you think trans women are men or that there is another group of people that are men and up to no good,” to which the comedian replied, “Sure. I think trans women are women. I wasn’t talking about trans people.”
Sure. I think trans women are women. I wasn’t talking about trans people
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) December 21, 2019
Gervais is set to host the Golden Globes ceremony, which will air live in January on NBC, for a record fifth time. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to the network and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for comment.
THR‘s request for comment from Gervais’ rep was not immediately returned.
