Comedian Ricky Gervais told the hosts of ABC’s “The View” that he would host the Academy Awards for free — but only if organizers would agree to let him say whatever he wanted.
Gervais initially made the claim during a Tuesday morning appearance on”Today with Hoda and Jenna,” saying that he’d likely be “canceled halfway through” if the Academy hired him for the event. “They’d never let me do what I wanted. That’s why the Globes got me,” he explained.
Co-host Sunny Hostin asked Gervais why, after hosting the Golden Globes five times, he believed the Academy would not offer him the gig.
“I might be allowed to host it, if I did what I was told, there’s the rub, the good thing at the Globes, they said I could write my own jokes, say what I want and not rehearse and that’s just too good for a comedian to turn down but I don’t think Oscars would ever allow me that freedom,” Gervais replied. “Rightly so, I think they would be mad. If they did, I’d do it. If they said that, I’d definitely do it. I’d do it for free if they said I could do that..”
“See, Whoopi thinks you’re wrong,” Hostin said.
“I think you’re wrong. I think they would absolutely adore it if you were up for it,” co-host Whoopi Goldberg said, arguing that the Oscars might be more willing than he thought to give him the free rein he was asking for. “Did I just hear you say you might be interested?”
Gervais just laughed, saying he already regretted making the offer, but Goldberg kept pushing. “If you’re serious I can talk to a couple of people. I know people,” she said.
“I know you do. I know. That’s what’s scary,” Gervais replied, joking that his agent was already calling him about it.
Gervais raised eyebrows — and brought down the house — with his fifth and reportedly final Golden Globes appearance, poking fun at the expense of the Hollywood elite while standing just feet from them.
“If you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your God and f— off,” he instructed the attendees, taking a backhanded swipe at those who tended to use the award stage as a platform for political messaging.
“So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg,” he added.
While some in media were less than thrilled by Gervais’ willingness to ride every third rail and kick open every door that read “off limits,” Piers Morgan summed up the performance like so: “Ricky Gervais delivered a glorious kick in the globes to Hollywood’s woke virtue-signalling hypocrites – and exposed them as a bunch of shameless two-faced charlatans.”
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Source: Dailywire
