Ricky Gervais on the Golden Globes jokes: “I care if I’ve told the truth”

“I don’t care what people think of me,” Gervais said on CNN‘s “Piers Morgan Tonight” in an interview airing Thursday. “I care if I’ve done a good job, and I care if I’ve told the truth.”

Speaking about the group that hired him to host the awards, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the comedian said: “I’m sorry if they were offended but I’m not sorry for anything I said. They hired me for a job and if they didn’t want me, they shouldn’t have hired me.”

“I don’t think I did anything wrong…I’m confronting the elephant in the room,” Gervais said. “Like I’m going to go out there and not talk about the issues in their industry. I’ve got to be an outsider there, I mustn’t come out there as everyone’s mate and schmooze — that’s nauseating. I’ve got to come out there and roast them.”

Ricky insisted it was his job as a comedian to give a release. “Comedy is laughing in the face of adversity,” he said. “We use comedy as a sword, a shield, as a medicine, as a getting to know you. It’s fundamental. It’s a fundamental we understand comedy and we have humor, because it’s built on empathy, and that’s what being human is.”

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the HFPA said: “When you hire a comedian like Ricky Gervais, one expects in your face, sometimes outrageous material. Certainly, in this case, he pushed the envelope and occasionally went too far. The HFPA would never condone some of his personal remarks. Overall, however, the show was among the best we’ve ever had and we were pleased.” 

Regarding this statement, Gervais commented: “But he said to me beforehand he believes in freedom of speech. Also, you know, all he said was, I think, if I remember, he said, ‘Those attacks weren’t necessarily the thoughts of’ — and they’re not. All he said was, ‘I didn’t see the script,’ which is fine, which is absolutely true.”

Image source: CNN