Steve Albini has criticised Ricky Gervais‘ for his “fucked up” new Netflix special and called him an “anti-woke trans-bash” comedian.

Gervais has been criticised this week over “transphobic” jokes in his new comedy special SuperNature, in which the controversial comedian makes numerous jokes about the trans community.

Oh, women,” he begins in the show. “Not all women, I mean the old-fashioned ones. The old-fashioned women, the ones with wombs. Those fucking dinosaurs. I love the new women. They’re great, aren’t they? The new ones we’ve been seeing lately. The ones with beards and cocks. They’re as good as gold, I love them.

“And now the old-fashioned ones say, ‘For ladies!’ ‘They are ladies – look at their pronouns! What about this person isn’t a lady?’ ‘Well, his penis.’ ‘Her penis, you fucking bigot!’ ‘What if he rapes me?’ ‘What if she rapes you, you fucking TERF whore!’”

Among the significant criticism being levelled at Gervais online is a lengthy tweet thread from legendary producer Albini, who began: “No, I’m not going to watch his special before I say it is fucked up and sucks. I have seen fucked up things that suck before and I already know the joke. They only have the one joke. Anti-woke trans-bash comedians are cultivating an audience I want very much not to be a part of.

“I used to like Ricky Gervais. His comedy hinted that he disliked the part of himself he indulged so flagrantly, the boorish, selfish unaware part. Him playing an oblivious creep was a necessary element of comedy critical of being oblivious.”

I used to like Ricky Gervais. His comedy hinted that he disliked the part of himself he indulged so flagrantly, the boorish, selfish unaware part. Him playing an oblivious creep was a necessary element of comedy critical of being oblivious. But as Kurt Vonnegut observed…

— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) May 24, 2022

Through the thread, Albini discussed how he believes that Gervais initially was poking fun at himself with these controversial jokes, but now “they forget that they actually suck and nobody likes them.”

“Ricky Gervais got comfortable inducing groans, learned to do it like a trick, got famous and wealthy from it,” he wrote. “Eventually he saw the groans as the point, and in enlightened circles, the way to induce groans is to disdain enlightenment and be a bigoted piece of shit.”

Ricky Gervais got comfortable inducing groans, learned to do it like a trick, got famous and wealthy from it. Eventually he saw the groans as the point, and in enlightened circles, the way to induce groans is to disdain enlightenment and be a bigoted piece of shit.

— steve albini (@electricalWSOP) May 24, 2022

The trans community was brought up again in a later segment of SuperNature, where Gervais discusses Kevin Hart’s decision to step down as host of the Oscars in 2018 over past homophobic tweets.

Gervais added: “You can’t predict what will be offensive in the future. You don’t know who the dominant mob will be. Like, the worst thing you can say today, get you cancelled on Twitter, death threats, the worst thing you can say today is, ‘Women don’t have penises,’ right? Now, no one saw that coming. You won’t find a ten year old tweet saying ‘Women don’t have penises.’ You know why? We didn’t think we fucking had to.”

At the end of the special, Gervais provides some context to the jokes, saying: “Full disclosure: In real life of course I support trans rights. I support all human rights, and trans rights are human rights. Live your best life.

“Use your preferred pronouns. Be the gender that you feel you are. But meet me halfway, ladies. Lose the cock. That’s all I’m saying.”

Netflix previously faced criticism over Dave Chappelle special The Closer, which similarly made jokes about trans people. The special even sparked employee walkouts and protests within Netflix.

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