Ricky Gervais has been quite the controversial figure as the comedian doesn’t feel that subjects can be too taboo for humor if the joke is funny enough. That was also the appeal of the comedian hosting the Golden Globes for the Hollywood Foreign Press. Gervais had hosted the event five times, and each time has been a no holds barred roasting of Hollywood’s A-list.
A Twitter fan posted the video of Gervais’ most recent hosting gig in 2020 when the Office creator went off on the jailed Felicity Huffman, Jeffery Epstein connections and the recently re-relevancy of the ages of Leonardo DiCaprio’s former girlfriends. The initial tweet simply said, “RT if you wish @rickygervais would host the golden globes again in 2023.” Gervais responded with a quoted tweet that simply said, “Fuck that.”
The discomfort of movie and TV stars as they squirm in reaction to Gervais’ cutting humor is a source of juicy laughter for the internet. Gervais has famously joked about Mel Gibson’s controversies to his face, mocked Tim Allen’s career as he introduced him, as well as made quips about Robert Downey Jr’s troubled past.
Gervais once explained in a 2021 interview how he decided to approach the past gigs and who he would appeal to, “Do I pander to the 200 billionaires in the room or the 200 million people at home sitting in their [underwear] drinking beer who aren’t winning awards, who aren’t billionaires? It’s a no-brainer for a comedian. I’m a jester. I play to the other peasants in the mud. I wasn’t going in terrible. Think of the things I could have said… Think of the fucking terrible things I could have joked about. It’s off the charts — It’s. Off. The. Charts — the terrible things I could say.”
The Golden Globes are set to return in 2023 after last year’s press release replaced a traditional ceremony.