Ricky Gervais Ready to Spin Golden Globes His Way, Again

Ricky Gervais has a bug up his ass. The same one he had last year. And, you’re going to hear all about it at the Golden Globes Awards Show. The Hollywood crowd can stand a little ribbing, he says. But what crowd?

The folks at the Golden Globes have apparently forgotten their history with Gervais, so they are condemned to repeat it. And, Ricky has no plans to let them down. You may recall the uproar he caused at the Golden Globes last year.

Ricky Gervais to Golden Globes: Twice is Enough

He passed celebrity insults off as jokes all night long. The act amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. In an age of unending celebrity gossip on the Internet, much of it mean spirited and caustic, why bring it into a room that’s supposed to be celebrating artistic achievement?

In the end, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which awards the Globes, said he wouldn’t be back; Gervais said he wasn’t coming back. Two was enough. Yet here he is for a third time.

Now, he’s obviously bent on validating last year’s performance. “People confuse the subject of the joke with the target of the joke, and they’re very rarely the same,” he explains in the new issue of Esquire magazine. “Let’s get this in perspective: They’re the wealthiest, most privileged people in the world. Offense is taken, not given. It’s your choice,” he adds.

“I stand by everything,” he says. “You shouldn’t apologize for anything you meant to do. You can apologize for things you do when you’re 15, but not when you’re 50.

Ricky Gervais: Art Suffers in Hollywood

“Imagine if I had gone out there and said, “We’re all in the same gang. Aren’t we brilliant? Us millionaires together,” Gervais said in his defense. But that’s exactly what he did.

In the interview, he definitely talks the talk. “I think Hollywood’s gotten more reactionary and conservative over the years, because there’s no longer art in Hollywood. Art suffers in Hollywood,” he says.

“HBO took art away from Hollywood and put it on the screen, okay? If ‘The Wire’ was a film, it would be in and out of cinemas in an hour because it wasn’t performing. The only innovation in Hollywood is technology. Give me two people talking about something. Give me a bit of humanity. It’s fundamental to the human aspect, storytelling.”

If he really believes that he should know that actors act in movies, but they don’t “make” them. That job belongs to the producers and studios.

Art suffers because Hollywood, like everything else, has gone corporate. It’s about profits. Or maybe it’s always been about profits. Either way, he focused on the same tired subjects: Charlie Sheen, Robert Downey Jr., Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Robert DeNiro.

So, how about taking a few shots this year at the people who really pull the strings? Feel free to consult Nikki Fink.  But, alas, even Ricky is unlikely to go there. After all, he wants to sell his next television show. So get ready for the same sophomoric slush he dished last year. He promises it will be funny.