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Gervais, who has a past of anti-trans jokes, attempted to veil his tweets in satire but he stirred up the hateful masses just the same.
Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais sent out a series of transphobic tweets on Friday, defending J.K. Rowling's recent anti-trans remarks. Gervais emphatically writes of trans women, "Some men have found a new cunning way to dominate and demonise an entire sex." What's worse is that Gervais appears to veil his transphobic comments in satire, but the result of stirring up transphobia in the Twitter masses is the same. It also jibes with his history of transphobic "humor," some of which occurred at the Golden Globe Awards in 2016 when he deadnamed Caitlyn Jenner.
Harry Potter creator Rowling set social media on fire when she publicly defended Maya Forstater, a cisgender woman who was fired for transphobic tweets after a judge ruled her controversial views were not protected under England's antidiscrimination laws.
\u201cDress however you please.\nCall yourself whatever you like.\nSleep with any consenting adult who\u2019ll have you. \nLive your best life in peace and security. \nBut force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? \n#IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill\u201d— J.K. Rowling (@J.K. Rowling) 1576760256
Many on social media declared Rowling canceled for her anti-trans comment, but Gervais, who's made transphobic comments in the past, has sided with the author.
Gervais's latest string of hateful rhetoric came in response to the person behind a troll account who called Rowling a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) and lamented that she would never be welcome at Hogwarts.
"Speaking as a trans woman, the thought that I will no longer be welcome in a fictional school for wizards has destroyed me," wrote Twitter user Jarvis Dupont, which is considered a troll account, not actually representing a trans woman.
Still, Gervais's response dripped with anti-trans sarcasm whether he was responding to a troll account or not.
\u201c@JarvisDupont @SpectatorUSA 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.\u201d— Jarvis Dupont (@Jarvis Dupont) 1576789796
His next tweet leaned into hateful stereotypes of trans women long perpetuated by TERFS.
\u201c@SMiLiNGNoelH @JarvisDupont @SpectatorUSA 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.\u201d— Jarvis Dupont (@Jarvis Dupont) 1576789796
Then he played the victim card.
\u201c@andrewdoyle_com They don't want to argue. They can't afford to have their propositions questioned. They want to create a dogma with its own blasphemy laws and the "fatwah" of labelling people bigots to shut them down, ostracise them and even have them fired.\u201d— Andrew Doyle (@Andrew Doyle) 1576777937
He invoked his right to free speech as an excuse to cudgel an already marginalized group of people.
\u201c@blackhatbadger @Rumtitidily @ThatFemale66 @SMiLiNGNoelH @JarvisDupont @SpectatorUSA Stop saying what I genuinely believe in case some people don't like it? Nah. Thanks for the suggestion though. Isn't free speech amazing?\u201d— Jarvis Dupont (@Jarvis Dupont) 1576789796
Finally, he dared those calling out his transphobia to report him.
\u201c@blackhatbadger @Rumtitidily @ThatFemale66 @SMiLiNGNoelH @JarvisDupont @SpectatorUSA But if I've said anything transphobic you should report me. Twitter has rules in place to guard against that sort of vile bigotry. My account will be closed down and you'll be proved right and will have saved millions of lives. Why aren't you doing this?\u201d— Ricky Gervais (@Ricky Gervais) 1576840063
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which produces the Golden Globes, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Advocate. Last awards season, Kevin Hart stepped down as host of the Academy Awards amid backlash to several homophobic tweets he'd written over the years.
