Ricky Gervais jokes about ‘reporting fans at shows for hate crimes’

Ricky Gervais has joked about reporting his audience for ‘hate crimes’ after trying out new material.

The comedian tweeted after coming off stage at Leicester Square Theatre in London, where he was preparing for his new show Armageddon.

After speaking about deliberately ‘trying to get cancelled’ with his new stand-up set, it looks like the new stuff got some big reactions from audience members.

“Another amazing audience at @lsqtheatre for my #Armageddon new material night,” he wrote on Twitter.

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He added: “They laughed at things that shouldn’t be laughed at and I have reported them all for hate crimes. I’ll do more soon.”

It comes after Gervais faced a backlash over trans jokes in his Netflix special SuperNature.

With footage of James Acaster criticising Gervais being widely shared following the show, a 2018 clip of Nish Kumar explicitly calling out the comedian in a stand-up routine from a few years ago has gone viral.

SuperNature sees Gervais speak about “old-fashioned women”, going on to say: “They’re the ones with wombs. Those f****** 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.”

He later says in the show: “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 that you are. But meet me halfway, ladies: lose the cock. That’s all I’m saying.”

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