Ricky Gervais claims he's not a 'horrible, nasty, uncaring' person, says he's just playing a character on stage
While Ricky Gervais has made a career out of being outspoken and saying the things most others wouldn't dare say, the stand-up comedian and actor recently insisted that he wasn't "nasty" and "uncaring," and that it was all part of a character.
Gervais, 58, recently made headlines after he slammed celebrities who were complaining about the lockdown from their million-dollar mansions while frontline health workers were putting in 14-hour shifts while placing their lives at risk.
He had also caused quite the furor while hosting the Golden Globes in January when he criticized those who used the ceremony as a platform to make political statements, took a jab at Felicity Huffman's prison sentence, and even compared Leonardo DiCaprio's dating habits to that of Prince Andrew.
But speaking to Conan O'Brien on the "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" podcast this past week, Gervais spoke candidly about the public's perception of him and said he wasn't what he was being made out to be.
"I think that I've got a reputation that's sort of like a shock jock or I don't care what I say, or I don't care about people's feelings, which is, that's totally untrue," he said, adding that he still very much had a conscience.
"I don't want people to think I'm horrible, nasty, uncaring because I'm not. I feared fame because of all those reasons."
The 58-year-old went on to explain that, just because he was not doing his stand-up bits as a character like some of his peers didn't mean what he was saying had to be taken literally. He said he still considered himself to be in character while performing these acts.
"I don't want people to think that I'm a racist, misogynist, homophobe because they've got the target mixed up with the subject," he stressed. "People don't quite understand that with character."
"They get it when you call yourself David Brent, but when you're live, they don't get that Ricky Gervais on stage is a character as well, to a certain extent," he continued, referencing his character from the British version of 'The Office.'
"I come out and do a joke and I say, 'that was irony.' That's when I say something I don't really mean."
Gervais also addressed the repercussions of cancel culture in the podcast and brought up how many comedians had lost their careers because of the stupid things they had tweeted years ago.
"Ten years ago if I made a joke and someone said I'm offended, I'd think about it. I'd look into it," he shared. "Now, it's meaningless. Now the people that are offended at anything have made that meaningless."
"And in a way, I've always tried to make my jokes bulletproof. Now you've got to try to make them bulletproof for 10 years' time, which is impossible. We all screw up. I try and turn the spotlight on me as well when i do those things. But I think people want war. They want a feud."