Ricky Gervais has revealed he is not concerned about being knighted in the future as he called the honor ‘irrelevant’.
Sir David Beckham, Idris Elba, Elton John and Lewis Hamilton are among the stars to be knighted.
Despite it being one of the most prestigious awards, Ricky said he has no qualms about receiving one.
Speaking of his YouTube channelRicky said Friday, “I don’t think I’ll ever get offered it. Don’t know. If my mother was still alive, I would definitely do it.
‘Would I do it now? Do I care? Does it matter? It doesn’t matter. If it was close to my house, maybe. Don’t know. I don’t think there are any pros and cons really.
‘I’m not a big royalist, but I’m not a big anti-royalist either. I think it’s so irrelevant, right? It’s like…it’s tourism, right? Don’t know.
‘But then there’s a part of me that thinks: if someone offers me something, I don’t want to offend him or her. Um, I really don’t know. That’s a really difficult one.
Ricky Gervais has revealed he is not concerned about being knighted in the future as he called the honor ‘irrelevant’
His controversial comments come just weeks after he revealed plans to marry his long-term partner Jane Fallon to avoid inheritance taxes (the couple pictured in 2016)
“And if I turned it down, I probably wouldn’t tell anyone because I don’t want to embarrass anyone. So I may have been offered it!
“For all you know, they call me all the time, and I say ‘No!'” Ricky joked.
He added: “You know what, if a knighthood meant like it used to, I could ride around on a big horse with a sword, then I’d take it.
‘But as it is now, it doesn’t mean anything, does it? I couldn’t be called Sir by anyone, so I don’t know if it would make much difference. To laugh. Oh, maybe I do it to annoy people. Maybe I would.
‘All the people who would really get annoyed would tip the balance. I like that. It’s my favorite.’
His controversial comments come just weeks after he revealed plans to marry his long-term partner Jane Fallon to avoid inheritance tax.
Ricky has maintained for decades that marriage is meaningless – even declaring that there was no reason to get married “in the sight of God because there is no God.”
The comedian, 65, has revealed he plans to marry the best-selling novelist – as it could avoid a huge inheritance tax bill when someone dies.
Ricky, who is worth an estimated £141 million, spoke to Saga Magazine about his plans to tie the knot with the Sunday Times bestselling author, also 65, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in March.
When asked whether tax would be the reason for marrying Jane, who has a net worth of £1.3 million, he agreed: ‘It is [the reason]. And that will be the reason I get married. We haven’t done it yet. But if that wasn’t the case [tax]… Why?…
‘It’s crazy. How more married can you be? We share all our money, we’ve lived together for 40 years. Some marriages don’t last a year.’
Admitting that he may have to make things official sooner rather than later, he added: “It’s terrible, isn’t it? “I must get married before I die.”
His comments come amid Jane’s battle with breast cancer after she received an early diagnosis discovered during a routine mammogram
Unlike married couples and civil partners, unmarried couples do not automatically benefit from the spousal exemption, which allows an estate to be transferred to a surviving husband, wife or civil partner without inheritance tax.
Without marriage, the portion of an estate above the available tax-free threshold can generally be taxed at 40 percent, a potentially expensive distinction for Gervais, who owns a real estate portfolio worth millions.
It includes a £14.75 million nine-bedroom mansion in Hampstead, north London, two flats in New York and a riverside house in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, where he recently got permission to build a £5 million mansion.
The new building in neo-Georgian style will have a large entrance hall, landing with gallery, home gym, lounge, reading area, elevator and master bedroom with a terrace overlooking an existing tennis court and pond.
Ricky and Jane met while studying at University College London in 1982 and two years later moved to a flat above what he described as a ‘seedy sauna’ in King’s Cross.
The couple decided not to marry or have children, with Jane saying she had never fantasized about weddings or motherhood.
Speaking on the Second Act podcast with Ateh Jewel earlier this year, Ms Fallon said: ‘When I was little, you know, the cliché of a little girl is that they imagine their wedding day and their wedding dress… it was none of that, ever.
“I’d think about getting a dog or something.” It was always about work and my life. I thought about the apartment I would live in and things like that. But I never liked that kind of romance.”
Ricky, meanwhile, has long insisted they were already married ‘in every sense of the word’, adding that their ‘fake marriage has lasted longer than a real marriage’.
