Mirror: Tory minister demands comedian Ricky Gervais apologises for branding ME sufferers 'lazy' in offensive joke

I think it's telling what Gervaise has chosen for us to see versus what he has chosen we shouldn't see. We don't see a nuanced portrayal of the illness; we see yet another caricature associated with our illness.

If all people see in regards to ME is caricatures, how can we ever expect stigma and prejudice to be challenged? In my view, all media either reinforces or challenges a message; very little media is truly neutral. So if it's not challenging assumptions, it's likely reinforcing them.

I don't think Gervaise really made any attempt to challenge stigma, because he immediately goes to the worst caricature that we know: an impressionable hypochondriac who diagnoses himself after hearing about it on TV. That's a very common representation of people with ME to begin with. The only difference is that this is a man and not a woman, so there's that, I suppose.

The very brief recognition that he didn't really have ME feels more like something shoehorned in so Gervaise doesn't have to apologise in future.

But YMMV, of course.
 
Diluted-biscuit said:
Because he’s so known to back down and apologise for jokes of course.....
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I'd rather he didn't in a way. If he were to come out and apologise then it would back to the militant ME patient narrative all over again. I would rather see a change of attitude than hear a "sorry".

adambeyoncelowe said:
I don't think Gervaise really made any attempt to challenge stigma, because he immediately goes to the worst caricature that we know:
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I can't pretend to have watched the series other than a brief snippet I saw via Gogglebox. From what I saw the storyline is of a journalist (RG) whose wife dies of cancer and he's left struggling to go on. The bit I saw is where a friend brings him to yoga class & the yoga instructor is a real caricature - full of shallow philosophy & wisdom.

So from what I've seen the show is using caricatures as a mirror of society. I know when I went through a year of repeated loss & stressful life events much of the behaviour of those around me felt exaggerated. It was astounding how caught up people can be in trivia. Maybe it strikes a chord because of that?

Given the clip, if he's poking fun at ME patients, he's poking fun at people with Downs and I really don't think he was.

I guess we all have different points of view and perspectives.
 
I had the same reaction as IW.

RG's character had no time at all for the yoga instructor who was full of both snot and 'people who get ill have brought it on themselves' conviction. And I felt the later mention of ME was supportive. When I saw it, I felt that RG had made an effort to put things right.
 
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Ricky Gervais’ ‘heartless’ Netflix special sparks a fierce backlash over ableist language
A new Ricky Gervais Netflix special has sparked a major backlash, with an accompanying petition against his use of ableist language garnering thousands of signatures.

The comedian’s new project, Armageddon, isn’t due for release until Christmas Day but he has shared previews of it on social media. One clip sees him make a “joke” about terminally ill children who have their wishes granted through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Labelling them “baldies”, he also makes use of the ableist “r” slur, saying: “Why didn’t you wish to get better? What, you f***ing re****ed as well?”

An online petition, organised through change.org, has called on Netflix to remove the “offensive skit mocking terminally ill children”. Receiving over 4,000 signatures, it was organised by Sess Cova, whose daughter had cancer.

The skit is not just disrespectful but also deeply hurtful, she said.

“It mocks the courage and resilience of these young fighters who face their illness with grace and beauty despite their baldness.

“Ricky Gervais’ jokes were not only distasteful but also heartless. They are a slap in the face to not only the children battling these serious illnesses, but also their parents and families who stand by them through this difficult journey.”

The mother also posed questions for Netflix about how the content came to be commissioned, writing 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.”
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Ricky Gervais’ ‘heartless’ Netflix special sparks a fierce backlash over ableist language (msn.com)
 
Ricky Gervais' behaviour/attitude is the epitome of the kind of bully boy privilege that excess of success and lack of experience of real suffering and injustice brings forth.

You are not a daring edgy comedian confronting the world with some hard truths, Ricky. You are just an entitled arsehole, who has no idea what he is talking about, and no concern for the harm you do, as you repeatedly kick the people below you.

Hiding behind the 'it's just a joke' excuse is nothing more than cruel cowardice.
 
For what it's worth, I see those quotes differently, but then, I am a fan of flippancy. From watching some of Gervais' tv shows, it is clear that he isn't a stupid man. I don't think he is an uncaring one either. I think his humour tends to put bad behaviour on display, so we can laugh at the people who make hurtful remarks. I'm probably not explaining that well. I haven't seen the clips people are complaining about.

Maybe it's not everyone's humour, but I can imagine some 10 year olds with a life-threatening disease seeing the funny side of that comment about the Make a Wish Foundation when they are faced with some earnest, well-meaning person thinking that they can make everything fine by giving them a ride on a fire truck or a trip to a theme park.

If you assume he actually means well - does that change how you interpret what he says?
 
Sean said:
Does he make equally sneering jokes about psychs and their claims and behaviour?
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Well, that was the point I made upthread, yes, he very much does.
Hutan said:
RG's character had no time at all for the yoga instructor who was full of both snot and 'people who get ill have brought it on themselves' conviction.
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The yoga teacher character's view, very much a BPS view, was displayed and criticised.
 
Sean said:
Okay, he gets a little wriggle room, for now.

I still bitterly resent being used as cannon fodder for other people's crusades.
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It's comedy, not a crusade. His style rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but at the end of the day it's not much more than jokes imo. With people like Gervais they often come at the expense of someone, but that's the style he's chosen. Have listened to a couple of his shows and actually enjoyed them.
 
Trish said:
I have tried a few times over the years watching Gervais. I confess I find what I have seen of his material completely unfunny and sometimes cruel. Maybe I've been unlucky with the bits I've watched.
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Doubt it, I think it just comes down to a difference in taste.
 
I absolutely loved Afterlife his comedy about a suicidal guy on Netflix. Wasnt at all offended by the character in it who says they has ME, with the emphasis on 'says'. Its obvious, or at least it was to me (& i am very easily offended by anything approaching ridicule of PwME), that it was about silly people who say they have ME but dont really know what it is and dont really have it.

But I just seen the trailer for his new stand up on netflix. The line is ''my auntie died of alzheimers... I dont know how you die of alzheimers ... <sigh> she forgot to live".

Errr eventually your brain atrophies and it kills you... Dimwit clearly thinks alzheimers is simply about losing your memory. Did you not ask or werent at all curious 'how' it killed your auntie? I mean google it... yeesh the ignorance.

displaying your ignorance and thinking you're clever... not a good look is it, its unfortunate because id bet other bits of the routine i would find funny. But, i dunno, my dear friend just lost her father to alzheimers & is devastated.

I not saying things that are painful should necessarily be off limits but get your facts straight.

Edited to change the word 'necessary' in last sentence, to necessarily - which is what i meant to write originally.
 
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I agree that no subject should be off-limits to comedy. But how it is done is where the limits kick in.
 
Sean said:
Okay, he gets a little wriggle room, for now.

I still bitterly resent being used as cannon fodder for other people's crusades.
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I think Catherine tates grandma character could do a powerful one along these lines if she pitched it right that one could actually make a difference in holding up a mirror to a few people about how it sounds like (and is) bigotry (and isn’t science they think they know when they say ‘just go fir a run’ etc)

at the moment I’d quite like to see a sketch from someone (maybe with newbies who are scientific minded watching on) taking the mick out of old-fashioned rehabbers trying to parse the new nice guidelines to find the bits they want having read out the gist and said ‘that’s only cos the patients were involved’. Thinking they are really changing but the discussion more bring about how everyone needs to do it more like them because theirs wasn’t that bad maybe it was just others doing it wrong (cos they never had anyone come back to them having been harmed)

Not wanting to remove 90% of their content being embedded motivation and mind stuff. ‘Cos that still holds’ after all they are x,y,z (and camera rolling over the ‘change your false beliefs’ bit)

I could go on.

is there a comedian who could pull something along those lines off? I’m sure I’ve seen the same equivalent for office scenarios almost the same (denial) so don’t see why not particularly now there is supposed to be more about ableism and disability bigotry etc but this is just shining light on how easily you can kid yourself etc
 
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