By Danny Bloom
CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan — He did it again. Last April British actor and comedian Ricky Gervais, famous for his role in The Office, was widely criticized by Jewish and non-Jewish publications in both
Britain and America when he made tasteless Anne Frank “jokes” on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show in New York, right to Mr Stewart’s face.
Now Gervais, who insists he is not anti-Semitic and that’s “it’s kosher to make Anne Frank jokes” is back in the news cycle again in mid-summer for once again mocking the memory of Anne Frank and her
family. This time, Gervais used his twitter account to tweet to 2 million “followers” just the other day: “If I had a time machine, I’d go back and sneak Anne Frank a DVD of Home Alone. It could give her the edge.”
His PR team in London quickly took action to have the tweet removed from his feed, but the words are still archived on the Internet worldwide even now. Did he apologize? No, he said he has every right to push comedy to the very edge of edginess.
Back in April, readers might remember, I challenged Gervais to stop cracking vulgar jokes about Anne Frank after the fiasco on Jon Stewart’s show” The news about my challenge to Gervais to stop with the Anne Frank jokes was picked up by several Jewish news outlets, from The Foward and The Tablet in New York to the Jewish Chronicle in London.
Did Gervais apologize then? No, his PR team penned an answer to me and asked that it be published in the Jewish Chronicle in Britain. It was. Titled “Why it’s kosher to joke about Anne Frank,” Gervais offered no apologies at all.
Gervais wrote, among other things: “I can see if [.a Jewish person] took this routine at face value as my real opinion on this profound and heroic tragedy, it could be deemed highly offensive. However, this is obviously an absurd comic position with the audience well in on the joke, fully aware that I am saying the exact opposite of what every right-minded person thinks.”
The 51-year-old British comic is in hot water again with Jewish and non-Jewish readers in Europe and North America. He quickly deleted the offensive tweet last week after being slammed by fans,
according to London press reports, but respnded to the criticism: “We have to stop this recent culture of people telling us they’re offended and expecting us to give a [damn].”
Ricky Gervais is a serial offender of the memory of Anne Frank and her family, and he apparently won’t stop. What makes this man tick? And why does show business still give this man a free ride?
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Bloom is Taiwan bureau chief of San Diego Jewish World and an inveterate web surfer. He may be contacted at dan.bloom@sdjewishworld.com
Ricky Gervais has announced that he is leaving “Twitter” apparently there are to many schmucks on line. He complains that he is misinterpreted by idiots. He has gone unchallenged for many years. Those that dare to challenge him are “internet trolls” Danny Bloom you have made your point. Well done.
Ricky Gervais does not hate Anne Frank. He has a definite indifference towards Anne Frank and the Holocaust. Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” 2005 speaks volumes about Hollywood’s indifference towards Israel. Ricky Gervais reflects Britain’s broken culture.
Can you not see that he is in no way making fun of Anne Frank but instead ridiculing the NAZIs? You need to rethink what he is saying when he makes these jokes. He is in no way trying to insult the Jewish people.
Good for you for staying on the case. Odd that he can’t seem to leave this
topic alone.
Yiftach, thanks for your good an reasoned comment above, and it’s a POV worth considering, too. You may be right, re Gervais has ”gotten more people talking about her lately than anyone in the Jewish community. ….. It is more educated people capable of critical thinking, particularly young people who may not be familiar with her story, who may now, because they heard their favorite comedian mention her, be prompted to learn something and have their horizons expanded.”
If you are right, then I should be thanking Monsieur Gervais and not rebuking him. Your POV is worth thinking about. Some people have said that his latest Tweet was to say that he wanted to travel back in time, if he could, in order to help Anne, to save her, and that by lending her a copy of the DVD Home Alone, she might get some tips on how to fend off the Nazis downstairs. If THAT was his MO there, then he was showing love and sensitivity to Anne and her family. You might be right. Good points.
Danny, like Ricky, you have complete freedom to express your opinion (or, in Ricky’s case, make jokes that DON’T actually reflect how you think but that make people uncomfortable). And, like Ricky, there are consequences to your speech (more or less consequences depending on how many people hear/read what you said).
Ricky Gervais (like Louis CK, another comedian who occasionally draws criticism) is not immune from consequences for his speech, but is more interested in making people THINK than in getting people to like him. I respect your position, but I don’t think Gervais owes anyone an apology (and apparently none is forthcoming).
I wholeheartedly disagree that Gervais is sullying the memory of Anne Frank; in fact, he’s gotten more people talking about her lately than anyone in the Jewish community. People who already tended to be antisemitic (read: narrowminded bigots) can take his jokes at their literal face value, but they’re not his target audience, nor would their minds or opinions be changed so easily. It is more educated people capable of critical thinking, particularly young people who may not be familiar with her story, who may now, because they heard their favorite comedian mention her, be prompted to learn something and have their horizons expanded.