RIcky Gervais Defends His Fat Jokes

Comedian Ricky Gervais has caught flack over comments he made about overweight people in an audio, and has taken to his blog to defend himself.

In a new audiobook, The Ricky Gervais Guide To Medicine, the 47-year-old calls (via The Telegraph) people who get stomach surgery to lose weight "lazy fucking fat pigs" who should go for a run instead:

"I really don't know why a doctor under a hippocratic oath takes the risk of something going badly wrong, sometimes with general anaesthetic, because someone can't be bothered to go for a fucking run.

"They have bits sliced off and tied up and sucked out. I want to say to them, 'You lazy f---ing fat pig. Just go for a run and stop eating burgers. You might fucking die'.

"Some things are not worth the risk. When someone's facial surgery goes wrong because they wanted plumper lips or a little nose, I think they're a fucking idiot.

"If your arse is too fucking fat, stop eating and go for a run."

Gervais as now blogged about his comments, citing how The Telegraph claimed he is in an "attack" on fat people:

I heard someone on the radio once say that they were tired of the prejudice aimed at the overweight. They said something like "you're not allowed to make fun of gay people, so why are you allowed to make fun of fat people? It's the same thing."

It's not the same thing though, is it? Gay people are born that way. They didn't work at becoming gay. Fat people became fat because they would rather be that way than stop eating so much. They had to eat and eat to get fat. Then, when they were fat they had to keep up the eating to stay fat. For gayness to be the same as fatness, gay people would have to start off straight but then ween themselves onto cock. Soon they're noshing all day getting gayer and gayer. They've had more than enough cock... they're full... they're just sucking for the sake of it. Now they're overgay, and frowned upon by people who can have the occasional cock but not over indulge.

When a doctor tells me that that's how you become gay, I'll stop making jokes about fat people.

Gervias has joked about his own weight in the past. Here are some self-deprecation on Letterman from July.

Here is preview clip, via YouTube, of the audiobook:

Comments

[MaddMike]

Two words for you: Fat Tax.

Let people who do not respect themselves, soceity, or me sitting next to them on a plane, pay for their life choice. Smokers pay extra taxes, partly because of the additional strain they put on soceity and our financial systems. When we drive, we pay taxes on fuel which should be used to offset our carbon footprints. All of these are life choices and if people choose to live that lifestyle, they should be willing to pay for it, not given hanicapped parking spaces and seats on the bus.

If I were Obama, all airline counters would have a scale and a bodyfat analyser. If over a certain weight and body fat, your plane licket would reflect it as access luggage.

To those who say this is hateful, perhaps. I also hate the fact that people smoke--so? It is not the same as hating someone for their ethnicity. I did not choose to be born a black jew. However, I did choose to stop by KFC, buy a family meal, and eat in in my car on the way home where I parked in my handicaped parking space and waddled to the elevator so that I could get to my apartment and order some Chinese for dinner.

I say, let people make whatever lifestyle choices they want, but if it affects the rest of mankind, they should pay to offset their additional cost to soceity.

[rbryanh]

Actually, food does cause gayness. The right food... My mother initially admitted to the misery of her heterosexual lifestyle when I was a violent, sports-prone six-year-old. Having seen what becomes of straight men, she wanted a better life for her only son. After a two year diet of arugula and premium vodka, I began sewing leather uniforms for GI Joe. By nine, I was outing Republican politicians and Catholic priests in public toilets.

Heterosexuality is in fact caused by poor childhood nutrition.

[seatech1]

So many of you posters just don't get it. Hate-speak is wrong regardless of what the reason is for someone's physical differences. It breeds contempt on a large scale, which often results in violence. Just as Gervais says that overweight people should take responsibility and do something about their weight, so should he take responsibility and stop his hate-speak. His words can lead to awful repercussions, and he should stop.
Freedom of speech carries responsiblity. That responsibility includes doing no harm to others.
Basically, he is saying that, if being gay were a choice, then it would be okay to hate gays. How ignorant and dangerous is that? Some do think that being gay is a choice, so to those people it is okay to harm gays, either verbally or physically, if they adhere to Gervais' rules.
I can't believe that, in this day and age, people have not learned this lesson yet.

[KickerBoard]

The creator of the funniest TV comedy series ever made (that's The Office, UK version!) exercises his right to generous comedic license in going where people don't normally go. Words on a page often sound harsher without the benefit of the comedic context, timing and delivery that Ricky is such a master of, particularly in his strongest area ("personal / social awkwardness" comedy).

[whatevahs]

Good for you Ricky for speaking your mind and not being afraid to do so.

[LauraO322]

The secret to weight loss? Sensible diet and exercise. Wow! Amazing! And it *really* works!

"But that takes tiiiiiiiiiime... I want to go from a size 20 to a size 8 in 4 weeks... I don't have tiiiiiiiime to exercise, that would take time away from my favorite tv shows... I don't have tiiiiiiime to cook, it's easier to drive-thru McDonald's, heck I don't even have to get out of my car..."

[DrFunkenstein]

I can't believe that so many people are letting it slide that Gervais (who was hilarious in The Office) is putting the blame solely on the people with weight problems. But weight problems are a complex mixture of psychological and nutritional collapses that the idea of "laziness" just serves to whitewash.

Gervais is a fairly smart guy, but makes no effort to joke about the billion dollar advertising campaigns for unhealthy food or the general cultural pressure to ignore nutrition. That's without mentioning the relationship between poverty and obesity. He should find some humorous way of reminding us that our children are bombarded by ads promoting hyper-stimulation and consumption while downplaying nutritional awareness.

All of these ads take place on FCC-regulated airwaves. Carlin was right that we can joke about any subject, but he also put a premium on telling hard truths - not just easy gags.

[Scottso]

Even with the "billion dollar advertising campaigns for unhealthy food or the general cultural pressure to ignore nutrition" people are still armed with free will and common sense.

I think Gervais is justified in pointing out that people still have ultimate control over their own bodies and health. And that IS the "hard truth" here. I don't have a weight problem, but I've had many other problems in my day...and 99% of the time there was nobody to blame but myself.

[usreporter]

The free will argument doesn't hold much sway with me - marketing works sadly. companies wouldnt spend so many millions on it if it didn't. free will or not, people can be manipulated and persuaded to do things that they wouldn't have thought about doing otherwise. people are impressionable and companies exploit that knowingly.

Anyway, Gervais is a comedian not an educator. He never claimed to be providing all the facts. He says what he wants to get a laugh, that's it.

[AbsurdHero]

How much free will do you have when you live in an inner city neighborhood where there is no access to fitness equipment, you can't even "go for a run" because of the crime and/or poor air quality, and the only food available is the unhealthy junk that is sold at the convenience stores?

[steveinohio]

When was the memo issued that said comedians had to be politically correct? A comedian shouldn't have to defend any joke. The PC crowd has sapped the life out of most human interaction in public; I'm sorry, but you can't have comedy.

[usreporter]

hear hear. You can get away with a lot more in the UK than the US anyway.

[Lulubelle1]

What Gervais neglects to take into account is the vastly different outcomes of the same eating patterns. Some people eat like pigs, but thanks to a certain metabolism, suffer no visible consequences. (Case in point: my adopted sister and me. We ate the same, and had the same level of physical activity, but one never broke 110 lbs and the other soared to 250+). Some exercise daily and eat light, yet cannot shed the pounds because their bodies fight them. Those facts are borne out by medical studies.

Making moral/character judgments on the basis of weight is as ignorant and wrong as believing homely people are innately evil.

[Tulka2]

For anyone with eyes to see, this is a case of profound self-loathing.

[wingitman]

hilarious and true. We are constantly looking for reasons why overweight people are overweight, other than the obvious, which Ricky has so clearly pointed out. We look to pump ourselves with drugs, starve ourselves with fad diets and go under the knife to have our fat sucked out with tubes and our stomachs reduced to the size of a walnut. Are these things even easier than going for a freakin run a few times a week? I am a self-admitted weightest- fat people disgust me because they represent a culture of excess, gluttony and selfishness. When one person eats as much as two, three, four, five people, they are taking more than their share from our earth, and that is wrong. Furthermore, it is preventable, just like the risks associated with smoking. The cost to our society is that if we continue to get fatter, affordable healthcare for everyone will continue to be a day-dream and our life expectancy will continue it's reversal. One user commented that fat people can't run because of the risks to their ankles...so start small, everyone has to start somewhere, if not run, walk! if not walk, crawl! If you can't move out of your chair, try lifting something above your head, not the remote! Insensitive...maybe...fed up, absolutely.

[ifihadahammer]

Excess is gross. But most fat people aren't eating "as much as two, three, four, five people."

Most fat people eat the same McDonald's value meal as their skinny counterparts and get fat. Whether or not you get fat depends on many, many factors - not just what you put in your mouth.

Still, I agree with the "get off the couch" method.

[P B]

Actually, *most* obese people actually *do* eat substantially more than their slim peers, quite often "eating for two". It is very *easy* to do this by eating not only more than needed at a sitting, but more often.

A significant phenomenon is "snacking" or "browsing", as I myself know only too well.

Many years ago, I shared a meal with a young family, all substantially obese, including the children. The set of otherwise innocent behaviours that I observed there clearly revealed what sustained their excess weight.

There are two forms of weight reduction surgery or rather two *effects*, one being to reduce the amount eaten, and the other, to cause malabsorbtion so that what is eaten is improperly digested. The latter causes many problems as essential nutrients may not be assimilated and the undigested food results in diarrhoea. To a certain extent, like the drug Orlistat (Xenical), this becomes an "educational" process so that food intake is reduced to the point necessary to avoid the diarrhoea, but while Xenical is temporary, gastric bypass surgery is not readily reversible.

So to the extent that the primary effect of surgery - particularly gastric banding as we perform as the preferred form - is to reduce food intake and is clearly successful, it becomes incontestable that weight control is *all about* reducing caloric intake to the necessary level. That level may be a bit lower in some people, but the first law of thermodynamics holds. "smags72" has it pinned on the 'glandular' problem.

[indy100]

Wow, I'm wondering if you could have been just a little nastier? It's unfortunate that you don't know nearly as much as you ramble on about. But you have a nice day anyway.

[smags72]

Why is that nasty? People are too sensitive. I do have a weight problem, but I'm not obese. If I ate whatever I wanted and got NO exercise, I'd be obese. But I work very hard to eat the right things and exercise, and although I am not always successful at it, I know very well why I haven't lost that extra 25 pounds - I ate too much or ate the wrong food, and I didn't exercise enough. Period. The 'glandular' problem people like to use as an excuse only actually affects a very small part of the population. Take a walk once in a while, they even say the fresh air and natural environment can positively affect your health, and in fact, can help you lose weight and lower stress levels immensely.

[jefered]

For insult comedy to work, there are two critical components: Insult and comedy. Seems Mr. Gervais has the first part with none of the second. Bitching about people you don't like in and of itself isn't funny. I can go to my uncle's and hear this all day long for nothing more than the cost of a cheap bottle of whiskey.

[ctekin]

I don't get what he says that is so offensive. I think he was spot on. On his show Extras, he has made fun of his own weight as well. He is a comedian, not a politician.

[Loxie72]

I TOTALLY agree! Funny and true - go for a run or walk and eat healthier. The doctors who took the oath (and the therapist who determine if patients are mentally stable enough for the op) just want to make money off the lazy and uncontrolled.

[Maygressive]

Didn't Carlin do this bit like 20 years ago ?

[jefered]

Yes, and it was actually funny when Carlin did it.