Ricky Gervais Posts Brutal Joke In Wake Of Will Smith Slap

Everyone seems to have something to say about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. The ever-mischievous Ricky Gervais couldn't help getting his twopence in about the incident.

By Douglas Helm | Published

ricky gervais

Everyone seems to have something to say about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. The ever-mischievous Ricky Gervais couldn’t help getting his twopence in about the incident. The comedian recently took to Twitter to post a brief clip from the UK version of The Office. Take a look at the clip from his past work below:

The clip shows Ricky Gervais’s David Brent being socially unacceptable as usual, saying, “And she’s got alopecia. So… not a happy homelife.” The first part of the line says, “I know someone who is an alcoholic, and it is no laughing matter — particularly for his wife …” As always, Gervais is able to find a humorous way to take a jab at the quirks of Hollywood. The clip is referencing the fact that Will Smith slapped Chris Rock after Rock made a joke about his wide, Jada Pinkett Smith’s, hair. Pinkett Smith has alopecia, which is an autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss. Rock quipped that she was preparing for the new GI Jane movie before getting smacked by Will Smith in response.

Ricky Gervais mentioned on The View that he would never host the Oscars. He talked about how the Golden Globes lets him make his own jokes, which is a contingency that he certainly makes the most of. His Golden Globes hosting gigs are full of hilarious quips at the expense of various celebrities in the audience. Plenty of people loved watching Gervais have a ball roasting Golden Globes audiences, and his hosting gigs often lead to some meme-worthy moments. Ricky Gervais doesn’t think that the Oscars would let him make his own jokes, and he’s probably not far off. The Golden Globes is a little bit looser of a ceremony compared to the Academy Awards, which traditionally goes for a more prestigious aesthetic. Well, until one of the announcers gets slapped by an audience member.

The wake of the slap has been contentious on social media. Many people appear to support Chris Rock. The Academy has condemned Smith’s actions and banned him from their events for 10 years. Smith, for his part, also apologized publicly and resigned from the Academy. Chris Rock has gone on to say that he won’t be speaking about the incident until he gets paid to talk about it. He surely has plenty of jokes in the chamber, but he seems to be saving it for another comedy tour or a comedy special instead.

In addition to posting a video of himself on The Office, Ricky Gervais also mentioned in a video chat that Rock’s joke was “like the tamest joke I would’ve ever told,” and how we would have joked about Jada Pinkett Smith’s boyfriend instead. It’s hard to say how Will Smith would have reacted to that, or how audiences would have felt about crossing that line.

Ricky Gervais’s latest work can be seen on Netflix, where the final season of his Netflix series After Life hit the platform at the beginning of the year. Next, he’ll be narrating a CW series called Fables, where classic fables are given a modern treatment.