Ricky Gervais has insisted he could have said far more "terrible things" to Hollywood stars when hosting the Golden Globe Awards.
Ricky Gervais has hosted the Golden Globes five times
The 60-year-old comic has famously caused a stir on every one of his five stints fronting the ceremony by mocking the star-studded guests - including memorably accusing them of enabling disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein by "acting like they don't see a thing" at the 2020 ceremony - but he can't understand why he gets criticism for giving the celebrities a tough time.
He said: "Do I pander to the 200 billionaires in the room or the 200 million people at home sitting in their pants drinking beer who aren’t winning awards, who aren’t billionaires? It’s a no-brainer for a comedian. I’m a jester. I play to the other peasants in the mud. I
"I wasn’t going in terrible. Think of the things I could have said.
“Think of the f****** terrible things I could have joked about. It’s off the charts – It’s. Off. The. Charts – the terrible things I could say.”
But despite upsetting some of the famous faces, the 'After Life' star insisted some of the crowd were amused.
He added to the Guardian's Saturday magazine: “Robert De Niro was just crying with laughter when I made a joke about Hugh Hefner and his young bride. He called me after a week and said, ‘I wanna say you did a great job.’ ‘Oh man,’ I said, ‘I annoyed some people.’ He said, ‘F*** ’em, they were jokes.’”
And Ricky thinks some of his gags have been unfairly criticised because people confuse the target with the subject.
He said: “I said [in 2011] the Golden Globe for special effects goes to the people who airbrushed the 'Sex and the City' poster. And I go, ‘Girls, we know how old you are, one of you was in an episode of 'Bonanza'!’
“Kim Cattrall said it was ageist. I said: ‘No it’s the opposite. I’m saying, what’s wrong with being 50?’ I hate that about Hollywood, where f****** George Clooney has to have a f****** 22-year-old girlfriend. Aaagh!”
Tagged in Robert De Niro hugh hefner Ricky Gervais