- Kellie Finlayson blasts comedian Ricky Gervais
- Comic jokes about sick children on his special
- Finlayson is currently battling cancer
The wife of Port Adelaide star Jeremy Finlayson, who is battling terminal cancer, has hit out at Ricky Gervais for making fun of sick children in his upcoming Netflix special.
Kellie Finlayson, 27, is battling stage four bowel and lung cancer after the former emerged in November 2021 following the birth of her first child, Sophia.
She recently received an optimistic update that her cancer has stopped spreading, giving the Finlayson family hope that Kellie could beat the odds.
Finlayson, who lives with the reality of her diagnosis every day, was outraged by Ricky Gervais' latest comedy special “Armageddon,” in which he mocks children with terminal cancer.
The comedian faced backlash for calling sick children “bald” and calling them “retarded” in his act.
Kellie Finlayson has criticized comedian Ricky Gervais for making fun of terminally ill children in his latest Netflix special
Gervais is criticized for calling terminally ill children “bald” and calling them “retarded.”
During the special, Gervais said he does video messages for terminally ill children through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and always starts the videos the same way.
“Why didn't you want to get better?” he joked. “What, you damn king too?”
Gervais then says that “these are all jokes” and that he doesn't use the R-word in real life.
Despite the comedian insisting it is a joke, Finlayson doesn't think the subject is laughable and took to social media to rail against Gervais and Netflix.
“What the actual f*ck,” she wrote in an Instagram Story in response to another parent's video of her attacking the star of The Office and Extras.
“I don't even know why I give this man airtime,” Finlayson wrote in a subsequent story. “But if you're not sure what my last post was about… This man, @rickygervais, uses terminally ill children as the subject of his jokes. Awful. The fact that this is even still on Instagram for people to see makes me sick. Disgusting.'
Finlayson followed up the post with another saying she had complained to Netflix about Gervais.
“My number has been blocked by @netflix co-founder @reed2001 simply by asking for a callback to discuss the negative impact the @rickygervais special will have,” she wrote.
Finlayson called the jokes in the comic “disgusting” and has filed a complaint with Netflix
Furious Finlayson says she would like to see something done about the matter
In a final update, Finlayson posted: 'Spoke to both @tedsarandos himself and his PA at @netflix and had it flagged. Whether anything happens, which I doubt, is another story.”
“It says a lot about his character if he would rather ignore me and make some money from the bank of terminally ill children.”
Several other angry parents of sick children have criticized Gervais for his comedy.
Katherine Litchen, whose son Teddy suffers from neuroblastoma, slammed Gervais, explaining that his comments were “like a punch in the gut.”
She added: 'My throat closed and tears welled up in my eyes at his words, 'Why don't you want to get better?' Because that is what we wish.
'The point of his joke is the suffering of children and parents whose greatest wish is for them to get better, but nothing in the world can fulfill this.
Finlayson isn't the only mother outraged by the comic's comments
'I find it particularly disturbing that Gervais used an 'ableist' slur – r*tarded – to describe terminally ill children.
“The word is a weapon of ridicule against those born with or who acquire disabilities, and Gervais' use of it in a globally broadcast stand-up comedy show helps maintain the social acceptability of disability discrimination.”