Netflix faces calls to cut ‘ableist slurs’ in scenes from Ricky Gervais’ new stand-up show Armageddon after viewers baulked at ‘Make-A-Wish’ jokes where he calls children with cancer ‘baldies’

Netflix is ​​under pressure to remove scenes containing “ableistic insults” from Ricky Gervais' new stand-up show Armageddon, after seeing the comedian's “Make-A-Wish” skit in which he called children with cancer “bald.”

In his new Netflix show, out on Christmas Day, Gervais said he had teamed up with the charity Make-A-Wish to create videos for terminally ill children in hospitals.

In a fragment that Gervais, 62, published on Twitter, he joked that the children were 'bloody r*******' because they 'didn't want to get better'.

The comedian has since faced intense backlash, with calls for Netflix to remove the scenes, which have been labeled “ableistic insults” by a British disability charity.

In the comedy sketch, Gervais explained that he had been making videos for the terminally ill children during the pandemic.

He joked: 'I used to barge into hospitals at the time saying, 'Wake up bald.' Look at me twerking on TikTok.” The audience roared with laughter during the stand-up show, which is being released as a Netflix series.

He also said that during the pandemic he has made many videos with the Make-A-Wish foundation, which gives terminally ill children one wish.

“I always say yes (to their requests). And I always start the video the same way,” says Gervais. I say, 'Why didn't you want to get better? What, you're retarded too.'

Gervais then laughs and jokes: 'I don't do that either, okay. These are all jokes, okay. I don't even use that word in real life. The R word.

'I used it in a joke, that's not real life, is it? I'm playing a role.'

But British disability charity Scope slammed Gervais for the joke, warning that “such language has consequences”, while a mother with a terminally ill child set up a petition to have the sketch removed by Netflix.

“We wish we were surprised by reports that Ricky Gervais used swear words in his new Netflix special,” Scope said on December 5.

“This type of language has consequences and we simply do not accept the explanation Gervais uses to justify this language.”

'He states that he would not use this language in 'real life'. But his stand-up routine doesn't exist in a parallel universe. The stage is real. Netflix really exists. The people who influence this kind of language are real.”

Two days later, Scope said it had been forced to disable its comments on Twitter after receiving hateful messages, adding that “we're not here to dictate what anyone should or shouldn't find funny.”

'Comedians who use the R slur encourage others to use it too. We saw this firsthand this week, with people with disabilities being directly abused in the comments of our post. This is real life, regardless of whether Gervais himself would use the slur outside of his routine.”

The charity added: 'We're not here to dictate what someone should or shouldn't find funny. But we can't pretend this comedy exists in a vacuum. This week proved that.”

Meanwhile, Twitter users have criticized Gervais for his sketch. One wrote: 'This is the meanest attempt at 'comedy' I have ever seen. Sick and dying children wish for a video of him, and he mocks them like this?

'Shame on you Ricky Gervais. Children fighting for their lives are no joke. I have no respect for this man.'

Another wrote: “For a man who benefited so much from a TV show that focused on cancer, this feels very strange,” referring to Gervais' hit TV show “After Life.”

Meanwhile, Sess Cova, a mother who says her child Katy “bravely battled cancer,” launched a petition urging Netflix to remove the “offensive skit from its platform.” Since then, more than 5,000 signatures have been received.

“We believe that comedy should never come at the expense of someone else's pain or suffering, especially when it comes to innocent children battling life-threatening diseases.”

Gervais is no stranger to reactions to his jokes. Last year, the comedian hit back at critics after Twitter's “woke brigade” attacked Gervais for mocking cancel culture with jokes about transgender people, Adolf Hitler and AIDS in his “SuperNature” Netflix special.

The show opens with a warning of irony, as he describes the concept of comedy to the audience as “basically a guy talking,” before deliberately not remembering any “funny female comedians.”

In “SuperNature,” Gervais wastes no time in singling out the “virtue signaling” and “dominant gangs” who are quick to criticize just to “bring people down to raise their own status.”

But his jokes were later described as “dangerous” material by a US LGBT rights group, while Stonewall accused him of “making fun of transgender people”.

In response, Gervais told The Spectator at the time: “My target was not transfolk, but transactivist ideology. I have always been confronted with dogmas that oppress people and limit freedom of expression.'

He hit back at woke critics again last night when he told The One Show that comedy should be used as a tool to “get us over taboo topics so they aren't scary anymore.”

He said: “I think that's what comedy is really for: to get us through things, and I deal with taboo topics because I want to take the audience to a place they haven't been before, even for a fraction of a second.

“Most violations arise from people confusing the subject of a joke with its actual purpose.”

He added, “I think that's what comedy is for: getting us over taboo topics so they aren't scary anymore. So I arrange everything. And I think we overestimate the audience.'