Armageddon row – This is what Ricky Gervais said after demands to remove content from his Netflix comedy special

Ricky Gervais landed in controversy ahead of his comedy special Armageddon, which is slated for a Christmas release on Netflix. The comedian used a few derogatory terms against cancer and specially-abled people. This stirred controversies with some even demanding that the content be removed from the platform. The war of words fueled up when Gervais took a jibe at critics by dubbing them “hecklers.” Read on to learn about the infamous incident. 

Why critics are furious about Armageddon and Gervais

The comedy special, Armageddon, is already turning heads, days before its official release on December 25. In a teaser video, the standup comedian refers to young cancer survivors as ‘Baldy’ and the mocking remarks have brimmed groups with anger. In a separate incident, Gervais joked about differently-abled people, followed by critics lining up for content removal.   

The comedian recently took a dig at the critics for calling out his content. He clarified during an interview with a BBC radio podcast, that people should take the comedy's special content as a joke and those who are making a scene out of it are “Faux” Hecklers.   

For the unversed, Gervais referred to terminally ill children as baldy and also allegedly used the R-slur, while making disrespectful jokes related to his work with the “Make -A-Wish” foundation. Later, the outrage stirred a controversy after over 12,000 people signed a Change.org petition while demanding content removal from Netflix. The petition was led by a parent of a cancer survivor.  

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The comedian later clarified his derogatory remarks by confessing that it was a joke and should be taken like that. He further denied using the “R-word”  

“These are all jokes, all right? I don’t even use that word in real life, the R-word. … I’m playing a role," he retorted.  

The Emmy award-winning comedian starkly pointed to the shift of a live performance reaction to the one on a popular streaming platform.    

“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.’ 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.”  

Previously, Gervais shared on X (formerly Twitter) a warning regarding the “adult themes” in the content with sexual and absurd jokes.  

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Armageddon will be streaming on December 25 on Netflix.