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Golden Globes Host Ricky Gervais Goes on Transphobic Tweetstorm

Ricky Gervais

Gervais, who has a past of anti-trans jokes, attempted to veil his tweets in satire but he stirred up the hateful masses just the same.

Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais sent out a series of transphobic tweets on Friday, defending J.K. Rowling's recent anti-trans remarks. Gervais emphatically writes of trans women, "Some men have found a new cunning way to dominate and demonise an entire sex." What's worse is that Gervais appears to veil his transphobic comments in satire, but the result of stirring up transphobia in the Twitter masses is the same. It also jibes with his history of transphobic "humor," some of which occurred at the Golden Globe Awards in 2016 when he deadnamed Caitlyn Jenner.

Harry Potter creator Rowling set social media on fire when she publicly defended Maya Forstater, a cisgender woman who was fired for transphobic tweets after a judge ruled her controversial views were not protected under England's antidiscrimination laws.

Many on social media declared Rowling canceled for her anti-trans comment, but Gervais, who's made transphobic comments in the past, has sided with the author.

Gervais's latest string of hateful rhetoric came in response to the person behind a troll account who called Rowling a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) and lamented that she would never be welcome at Hogwarts.

"Speaking as a trans woman, the thought that I will no longer be welcome in a fictional school for wizards has destroyed me," wrote Twitter user Jarvis Dupont, which is considered a troll account, not actually representing a trans woman.

Still, Gervais's response dripped with anti-trans sarcasm whether he was responding to a troll account or not.

His next tweet leaned into hateful stereotypes of trans women long perpetuated by TERFS.

Then he played the victim card.

He invoked his right to free speech as an excuse to cudgel an already marginalized group of people.

Finally, he dared those calling out his transphobia to report him.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which produces the Golden Globes, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Advocate. Last awards season, Kevin Hart stepped down as host of the Academy Awards amid backlash to several homophobic tweets he'd written over the years.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.