...and I won't pander to them

Ricky Gervais has branded vocal critics of his Channel 4 show Derek ‘bullies’.

The comic came under fire for his portrayal of the slow-witted care home worker, who many viewers took to have learning disabilities, despite Gervais’s protestations to the contrary.

However, he said he was not concerned if people were offended – and wouldn’t change his comedy to ‘pander to the bullies’.

In an interview with today’s Metro, he said: ‘If people say, “I wasn’t sure what I was laughing at” – it’s not my problem.

‘People mistake the subject of a gag with the target of a gag. You can do jokes about disability without being prejudiced against people with disabilities.’

And asked if he was worried about the reception the forthcoming full series of Derek will get, he added: ‘I’m not going to pander to the bullies. Comedy is subjective and so is offence. There’s nothing you can say that won’t offend someone, somewhere.

‘You just have to do what you think is right and hope people get it. Don’t water down an art form because some people won’t get it. I’m not going to pander to people who try to impose their views on me.’

Gervais has previously been accused of being a bully himself.

Christopher Stevens, the father of an autistic son, wrote earlier this year: ‘His performance in Derek was that of a schoolboy bully, showing off to his friends by pretending to be a “spazz”, combing his hair forward and sticking his lower jaw out... His comedy seeks to mock and injure the most vulnerable in society.’

Other critics said Gervais’s use of the word ‘mong’ as an insult on Twitter – which he has now stopped using – fuelled schoolyard bullying.

Published: 27 Jun 2012