A petition to remove a joke from 'Armageddon' has been signed by over 12,000 names
If you didn't already know that a new Ricky Gervais special was on the way via Netflix, you certainly do now.
Gervais is a comedian who is not known for holding any punches, but it seems that this forthcoming special 'Armageddon' have rubbed people up the wrong way - or at least a certain joke that he makes about terminally ill children has.
So much so, in fact, that a Change.org petition has been launched, demanding that Netflix remove the joke, which also uses the R-word, from the special which hits the streamer on Christmas Day.
Gervais released a teaser from the stand-up show where he is discussing making video messages for the Make-a-Wish foundation, calling terminally ill kids 'baldy' and joking that they must be 'r******d' for not wishing to get better.
However, immediately after the joke he says: "These are all jokes, all right? I don’t even use that word in real life, the R-word. … I’m playing a role."
At time of writing, the petition had been signed by over 12,000 people but Gervais is not bothered by the controversy.
He said in a new podcast interview: "I can play to a million people, I won’t get a complaint. As soon as it goes on Netflix or as soon as someone writes up a joke that says this is offensive, people go, ‘Oh, that’s offensive'," he said. "They haven’t even heard the joke. They weren’t there. Ignore them. They don’t count. They have no effect on me. They don’t count. They’re hecklers."
Calling the kerfuffle "faux outrage", he added: "They just want a reaction … being ignored has the same psychological effect as being slapped in the face. So I really, really enjoy ignoring people."
He concluded: "They’re allowed to hate it. They’re allowed to not come to the show, but it’s not going to stop me doing what I love, and I’m not going to stop it at the expense of all the other people who love it. No one has to watch this."
The petition was organised by a mother who says that her child "bravely battled cancer" and states in the description: "Our children are not a punchline, their lives aren’t a joke. This is why we demand that Netflix remove this offensive skit from its platform immediately. We believe that comedy should never come at the expense of someone else’s pain or suffering — especially when it involves innocent children battling life-threatening illnesses."