The 2026 Golden Globes may have been a night of celebration for many, but for Ricky Gervais, it served as a public reckoning. Though absent from the ceremony, the 64-year-old comedian won the award for Best Stand-Up Comedy on Television for his special Morality.
The win was overshadowed by a viral moment from presenter and lesbian icon Wanda Sykes. Before announcing the winner, Sykes quipped: “I love you, Ricky. Because if you win, I get to accept the award on your behalf, and you’re going to thank God and the trans community.” When his name was called, she stayed true to her word, accepting the trophy by stating: “He would like to thank God and the trans community.”
The irony was lost on no one. Gervais, a staunch atheist, has spent the last decade building a comedy brand largely centered on mocking transgender people. Here is a look back at the comments and direct quotes that have fueled this long-standing controversy.
2016: The Golden Globes and Caitlyn Jenner
The friction began during the 73rd Golden Globe Awards. Gervais used his opening monologue to target Caitlyn Jenner just months after she came out. He deadnamed her, saying: “I’ve changed. Not as much as Bruce Jenner, now Caitlyn Jenner, of course.”
He then targeted her involvement in a fatal car accident: “What a year she’s had. She became a role model for trans people everywhere, showing great bravery in breaking down barriers and destroying stereotypes. She didn’t do a lot for women drivers, but you can’t do everything.”
He later went on to defend the jokes made.
2018: ‘Humanity’ and the “Chimp” Comparison
In his Netflix special Humanity, Gervais doubled down, spending over 15 minutes re-addressing the Jenner joke. He justified his use of her deadname.
Gervais reminded the audience of how he opened the Golden Globes stating, “I’ve changed. Not as much as Bruce Jenner. Now Caitlin Jenner, of course, and what a year she’s had. Became a role model for trans people everywhere, bravely breaking down barriers and destroying stereotypes. She didn’t do a lot for women drivers.”
“That’s a clever joke, and I’ll tell you why,” says Gervais. “It’s layered. The subject of that joke is stereotypes, I’m playing with the notion of stereotypes. So, I start off saying, ‘She’s a real woman.’ Some would say, a liberal progressive attitude.” (Gervais seems to think acknowledging a person’s identity is progressive).
“But she did, I saw him on the Olympic games. It won a medal. It was on tele all the time. A big famous man. With a huge, I don’t know. I would never dead-name her. But when she was a man. I’d never dead-name her now, but this is like a flashback. Cause that was his name, this was years ago, right? That was his name, for 58 years, I think.”
He went on to say ““I’m not one of these bigots, who think having all that done is science gone too far… In fact, I’ve always identified as a chimp. Well, I am a chimp. If I say I’m a chimp, I am a chimp. And don’t ever dead-name me, from now on you call me Bobo. I’m going to have species realignment.”
2019: Twitter and JK Rowling
Gervais took his “anti-woke” crusade to social media in 2019, posting in support of JK Rowling. He tweeted a sarcastic response to a parody account, writing: “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.”
He went on to push a narrative that trans women pose a threat in single-sex spaces, stating: “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.” When challenged, he claimed he was referring to “male predators hiding beneath the trans umbrella” rather than trans women themselves.
2022: ‘SuperNature’ and the Bathroom Debate
In the special SuperNature, Gervais mocked what he called “new women.”
In the show Gervais opened with a caveat that many of his jokes will be ironic, stating: “That’s when I say something I don’t really mean, for comic effect, and you, as an audience, you laugh at the wrong thing because you know what the right thing is. It’s a way of satirizing attitudes.”
Shortly after he jokes about “old-fashioned women.”
“They’re the ones with wombs. Those fucking dinosaurs. I love the new women. They’re great, aren’t they? The new ones we’ve been seeing lately. The ones with beards and cocks.” He then imagines a conversation with a woman who objects to sharing a bathroom with a trans woman: “They are ladies, look at their pronouns. What about this person isn’t a lady?” He then responds: “Well, his penis.”
“Full disclosure: in real life, of course, I support trans rights,” Gervais later says. “I support all human rights, and trans rights are human rights. Live your best life. Use your preferred pronouns. Be the gender that you feel that you are. But meet me halfway, ladies: lose the cock. That’s all I’m saying.”
He then acted out a hypothetical debate regarding public restrooms:
“They are ladies, look at their pronouns. What about this person isn’t a lady?” “Well, his penis.” “Her penis, you f***ing bigot!”
2026: The “Right” to be Offensive
In a January 2026 interview with BBC’s This Cultural Life, Gervais showed no signs of regret. When asked if he had “doubled down” on anti-trans material, he replied: “That’s probably true, but that’s because I think I’m right.”
During the conversation, the host asked him about controversial jokes he made in the past, including his bits about trans people. The interviewer, John Wilson, told Gervais that he felt the comedian hadn’t “changed in parallel with the times” and “doubled down” on his “anti-woke” crusade.
“That’s probably true, but that’s because I think I’m right,” Gervais responded. The interviewer asked him to clarify what he felt he was right about, to which he said, “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.’” He continued, “As you do get more progressive, maybe, and milder and change, what usually happens is, the things you used to do look worse.”
Ricky Gervais has yet to respond to the comments Wanda Sykes made at the Golden Globes.
