Netflix viewers are demanding “‘ableist slurs” contained in the new Ricky Gervais standup special Armageddon are cut after the comedian’s “Make-A-Wish” skit included a segment where he called children with cancer “baldies.”
In his new Netflix show, set to be released on Christmas Day, Gervais said he had been making videos for terminally ill children at hospitals with the Make-A-Wish charity.
In a teaser Gervais posted to his social media pages last week, he jokes about the process of meeting the children.
“I’ve been doing a lot of video messages recently for terminally ill children,” Gervais explains. “Only if they request it, obviously. I don’t burst into hospitals and go, ‘Wake up, baldy. Look at me twerking on TikTok.’”
“I did a lot through the pandemic — presumably because they couldn’t even see their own family,” continued “The Office” co-creator. “It’s through Make-A-Wish Foundation.”
The five-time Golden Globes host, long a proponent of free speech, said if a kid requested him, he would “always say yes, and I always start the video the same way.”
“Why didn’t you wish to get better?” the comedian deadpanned, drawing a mixed reaction from the audience. “What, you f–king retarded as well?”
“The Invention of Lying” star told the crowd he doesn’t “do that either,” adding that “these are all jokes.”
“I don’t even use that word in real life, the R-word,” Gervais stated, telling the audience that he is “playing a role.”
The English comedian has since faced fierce backlash with a mother of a terminally ill child setting up a petition to get the skit removed by Netflix.
Over 5,000 people have signed the petition to axe the jibes against terminally ill children, categorised by one critic as “not only distasteful but also heartless.”
Disability charity Scope has been quick to register its displeasure.
“I was actually a fan of Ricky Gervais but after watching his stand up with my family and hearing multiple jokes about terminally ill children and especially kids with cancer I had to turn it off,” former soccer player Ashley Cain, 33, wrote in the comment section of the Instagram teaser clip.
“Some things are not funny, especially to the parents that are left behind. You can get cancelled in this world for so much, yet making a mockery of dying children is ok? I’m so mad at this!”
“This is absolutely VILE. How people would ever find this funny is truly beyond me,” another person commented.
Despite the uproar, the Ricky Gervais standup special has been shortlisted in the new Golden Globe category of best performance in stand-up comedy on television.
Fellow nominees are Amy Schumer, Trevor Noah, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, and Wanda Sykes.