English comedian, actor, writer, TV producer, and filmmaker Ricky Gervais won the Golden Globes award for Best Stand-up Comedy on Television for his December 2025 special, Mortality. However, the former host was absent at The Beverly Hilton on Sunday night.American comedian, actress, and writer Wanda Sykes mocked Gervais while presenting the award. He gave a shoutout to the Golden Globes for “having me.”“Because you know there are some people p*ssed off that a queer, Black woman is doing the job of two mediocre white guys.”Subsequently, she thanked Ricky Gervais for “not being here” before announcing him as the winner. She went on:“No, I love you, Ricky, but if you win, I get to accept the award on your behalf, and you’re going to thank God and the trans community.”Wanda, 61, later accepted the award on his behalf.It is noteworthy that Ricky Gervais is a self-proclaimed atheist and has sparked controversy for his anti-trans remarks over the years. For instance, earlier this month, he appeared on the BBC’s This Cultural Life and defended his past anti-trans rhetoric.Interviewer John Wilson told the comedian that he hadn’t changed with the times and instead “doubled down” on his “anti-woke” views. Gervais said that it’s “probably true” and that he thinks he’s “right.”“I have a right to talk about those things. And there are jokes I certainly stand by. I can’t look back and say, ‘Oh, sorry about that, I said that when I was only 50.’ As you get more progressive, maybe, and milder and change, what usually happens is, the things you used to do look worse,” Ricky explained.He continued by joking:“What I do is I try and get more offensive, so when I look back, I go ‘aw wasn’t I kind when I was 45.’”Ricky Gervais concluded by noting that in retrospection, he wouldn’t change anything about his past jokes. However, he wouldn’t mind issuing trigger warnings before certain materials.Exploring Ricky Gervais’ anti-trans remarks over the yearsIn January 2020, a parody X account of Spectator USA satirist Jarvis Dupont rallied against J.K. Rowling for publicly siding with British researcher Maya Forstater for claiming that “biological sex” was unchangeable.“J.K. Rowling is a TERF. Speaking as a trans woman, the thought that I will no longer be welcome in a fictional school for wizards has destroyed me,” Dupont, who identifies as trans, wrote.Ricky Gervais hit back with a sarcastic comment.“Those awful biological women can never understand what it must be like for you becoming a lovely lady so late in life. They take their girly privileges for granted. Winning at female sports and having their own toilets. Well, enough is enough,” Gervais, 64, wrote.The comedian continued by addressing a netizen:“We need to protect the rights of women. Not erode them because some men have found a new cunning way to dominate and demonise an entire sex… Maybe you haven't been following the various stories of male predators hiding beneath the trans umbrella and exploiting self-ID to abuse women. That's why I said men and not trans women. Hope that's clearer…”Later, he also tweeted by saying that he considers trans women as women and also believes “people can be trans” and must be “respected.”Ricky Gervais later clarified to The Hollywood Reporter that he was just trying to be “funny.” He explained:“Jarvis Dupont is a spoof Twitter account, and the joke is that he’s so woke that he’s actually gone full circle and does terrible things. And his latest [bit] is, ‘I’m trans now.’ And he gets all that wrong.”Gervais continued:“And I responded by playing along with him, saying, ‘Oh, you’re so much better than biological women because they’ve had a lifetime to get used to it.’ Now, people saw my tweet and they thought he’s a real trans person, but I’m taking the p*ss out of Jarvis Dupont, who is actually a woman in real life.”Ricky also said that the “problem” lies with people online who don’t always perceive a “joke,” adding that the “nature” of X is “so curt” and lacks “nuance” that “it’s there forever out of context.”NBC's "77th Annual Golden Globe Awards" - Show - Source: GettyAccording to Ricky Gervais, everyone likes the “idea of freedom of speech” until it goes against something they don’t like. However, that doesn’t mean he is going to “water it down or back down and not say what I want.”However, the Office creator acknowledged understanding the sensitivity around the trans community, adding:“Some people, when you deal with contentious issues or taboo subjects, the very mention of them is sacrilege. That’s why they stay taboo. People straight away, particularly with a comedian, if you’re joking about a subject, they think you’re anti it as opposed to pro it.”According to Ricky Gervais,“It’s a good thing to not be racist and sexist and homoph*bic. But it’s not a good thing to not be allowed to make jokes about those things, because you can tell a joke about race without being racist. I’m happy to play by the rules. It’s just that the 200 million people watching have different rules.”Before that, during the 2016 Golden Globes, he made fun of Jeffrey Tambor and Eddie Redmayne for their queer roles in Transparent and The Danish Girl, respectively. At the same event, Gervais also faced backlash for using the deadname of Caitlyn Jenner.Later, he faced criticism for his portrayal of the trans community in the 2022 Netflix special SuperNature. Back then, Ricky said on the show:“I love the new women. They’re great, aren’t they? The new ones we’ve been seeing lately. The ones with beards and c*cks… In real life, of course, I support trans rights. I support all human rights, and trans rights are human rights. But meet me halfway, ladies. Lose the c*ck. That's all I'm saying.”Ricky Gervais also said he goes on stage “without prejudice” and said anything to make his content funnier. However, that doesn’t mean those were his actual views. Referring to gender fluid Eddie Izzard, he added during his special:“Live your best life, use your preferred pronouns, be the gender that you feel that you are… it's mad to think that joking about something means you're anti-it.”GLAAD denounced the joke via a post on X. They wrote:“It is full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes. He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric and spreads inaccurate information about HIV.”Meanwhile, Ricky Gervais defended himself by saying that comedy is meant to make people “uncomfortable” and “get us over taboo subjects.” Appearing on BBC One’s The One Show, he noted in May 2022:“I think that's what comedy is for, really - to get us through stuff, and I deal in taboo subjects because I want to take the audience to a place it hasn’t been before, even for a split second. Most offence comes from when people mistake the subject of a joke with the actual target. So, it starts, they go, ‘What’s he gonna say?’ I tell the joke. Phew. They laugh.”Ricky Gervais continued to explain:“It’s like a parachute jump. It’s scary, but then you land, and it’s all OK. And I think that’s what comedy is for, getting us over taboo subjects. They’re not scary anymore. So, I deal with everything. And I think we second-guess the audience too much.”Ricky Gervais also shared that his real audience was able to “take” whatever jokes he threw at them, as they were aware that the real world is “much worse” and jokes don’t mean anything and were simply meant to make people “laugh for an hour.”Ricky Gervais bagged his third ever Golden Globe on Sunday. His past victories include the 2004 Best Actor award for The Office and last year’s Best Stand-up Comedy award for his special, Armageddon.