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Ricky Gervais explained why Netflix didn't bother to promote his new stand-up special.
The British comedian's controversial stand-up show, titled Armageddonwas made available to stream on Christmas Day without much fanfare from the streaming service – and, despite to be mutilated by criticsit has since become a huge success.
However, Gervais addressed Netflix's lack of promotion in a post shared the week before the release, suggesting that Netflix had refrained from placing posters of the film in public.
The comedian told his followers on X/Twitter: “Netflix isn't doing any posters because they can't be stupid.” When one of his fans asked why the service wasn't “advertising” the show, Gervais replied: “They think it's going to be huge anyway.” »
The stand-up special did an effective job promoting itself thanks to the furore that surrounded a controversial jokewhich inspired a petition calling for its removal.
A teaser for the show previewed a section on his work with theMake-a-Wish Foundation, in which he jokes about how he approaches messages to terminally ill children who request it. He also uses an ableist slur against them.
Appearing on BBC Radio 5 Live, Gervais hit back at those who expressed their displeasure at the joke, questioning whether people were actually “offended” by it.
“I literally say in the joke that I don’t do that. But people have a reaction. They don’t analyze it,” he said. “They feel something – that’s the offense. It's a feeling. This is why “I’m offended” makes absolutely no sense. What do you want me to change?
Gervais suggested he found it easy to ignore negative reactions to his jokes, adding: “I have a duty to people who like it and understand.” I wouldn't sit with a heckler, would I? If I was playing in front of 20,000 people, I wouldn't stop the show to explain it to them. I ignore them.
The comedian tweeted a warning about Armageddon's content days before its release, writing: “In this show I talk about sex, death, pedophilia (sic), race, religion, disability, freedom of speech, global warming, the holocaust and Elton John,” he said.
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Ricky Gervais explains why Netflix didn't 'promote' a new stand-up special
(Netflix)
“If you don't approve of jokes about any of these things, then please don't watch them. You won't like it and you'll get upset.
Earlier this month, the charity Scope warned that “language like this has consequences” and that “the people affected by this type of language are real”.
“Language like that has consequences. The scene is real. Netflix is real. The people affected by this type of language are real,” their post read. “Joking about this kind of language trivializes it. This risks normalizing the abuse that many disabled people face on a daily basis.
The charity later said it had been forced to disable comments on its X/Twitter account due to the abuse they received in response.
Armageddon is now available to stream on Netflix.