May I remind everyone that the Golden Globes were on the 16th of January, and that today is the 24th of January? I just thought I’d remind you that because any controversy over Ricky Gervais‘ performance at the Golden Globes should be very dead by now, just like salamanders in the science class and pieces of Juicy Fruit. Especially since celebrities are supposed to be able to forget about anything that happened to them the day before, and wake up fresh each morning and head straight to the fragrance factory for a busy day of pretending like the clothes they wear are theirs and maintaining how they’re SO AGAINST e-readers! Ricky Gervais did nothing wrong that night, and I can’t believe his comments seem to have the staying power of that stupid New York Times article that reviewed Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mothers.
But this weekend was the Producer’s Guild Awards and it was hosted by Judd Apatow. He critiqued Gervais’ remarks very heavily, which was pretty confusing because if Apatow is smart enough to realize that a guy being afraid of having sex with a pregnant woman is hilarious, then he should realize the only way to make celebrities understand they’re really not that great is to stand at a podium with a beer in hand and point out who, among the star-studded audience, are anti-semites and alcoholics.
Let’s go over everything that Apatow felt was offensive. First, he didn’t like the joke Gervais made about Lost. Apatow said, “Gervais had that joke about the guy on Lost. He said he ate everybody else. Let’s be honest — Ricky Gervais just lost weight. Even now he’s four pounds away from not being allowed to do a joke like that. Did he lose weight to make fat jokes? You think that’s how mean he is?” Then, Apatow critiqued Gervais’ comments about the curiosity that was The Tourist‘s nomination: “(Gervais) says the characters were two-dimensional. Then he says he hasn’t seen The Tourist. So as a comedian, that’s not fair is it? To make jokes about a movie you haven’t seen. I can’t do a joke about The Invention of Lying because I haven’t seen it. You haven’t seen it. None of us have seen it. So the joke would not work.” And finally, Apatow came to the defense of Tim Allen, who apparently Gervais said looked terrible. Apatow remarked, “Gervais made a joke about Tim Allen, who was standing next to Tom Hanks. Who looks good standing next to Tom Hanks? We all look like a piece of shit next to Tom Hanks. Warren Buffet would look like a piece of shit next to Tom Hanks. Tim Allen did 200 episodes of Home Improvement. He was in three of the highest grossing movies of all time. And his latest just crossed the one billion mark. Whereas The Invention of Lying made $18 million worldwide. Leave Tim Allen alone.”
“Woah woah, where is the archery counselor so she can count all those bullseyes!” Are you thinking that? I hope not because do you know how easy it is to critique someone else’s performance rather than make up your own? It’s pretty easy, and it’s shocking to think that Apatow would feel compelled to defend people after he said himself that they’re all so rich and powerful and talented and insinuated that Gervais was a fool to think he was tough enough to take them on. Do you see why we shouldn’t be talking about this anymore? We’re currently debating whether or not someone was too hard on a bunch of celebrities. Don’t you think the question of why fish eat the pebbles that line their tanks is more worth our time?
Source: Hollywood Reporter
