Yes, we live in a world where Ricky Gervais has to clarify the context of a joke he made about The Office being canceled if it aired today due to cancel culture during a recent BBC interview that some media outlets misconstrued to their audiences. Multiple sources reported that Gervais said his version of The Office would be canceled if it were made today, which is inaccurate.
During the recent BBC interview where the comic-actor was speaking about The Office turning 20, he made a joke about the show being taken off the air due to offensive jokes.
“I mean now it would be canceled. I’m looking forward to when they pick out one thing and try to cancel it,” he said. “Someone said they might try to cancel it one day, and I say, ‘Good, let them cancel it. I’ve been paid!’”
According to Gervais, what he meant was that The Office would be canceled if it aired today, not that he would make something offensive today.
“Just to be clear, I did not say The Office would be cancelled if it were made today. That makes no sense. It’s still around. This is my actual quote. “Someone said they might try to cancel it one day, and I said, ‘Good, let them cancel it. I’ve been paid!’” Clearly a joke,” he wrote to his more than 14 million followers.
Gervais and Stephen Merchant created, wrote and directed The Office together. Gervais starred as office manager David Brent, a tactless goofball who would often make tasteless, offensive jokes and remarks.
“In The Office, the audience are encouraged to identify not with the ignorant Brent, but with the characters Dawn [Lucy Davis] and Tim [Martin Freeman], and the victims of Brent’s ill-conceived comments are never racial or gendered caricatures, rather they are ordinary, intelligent people,” Gervais told the BBC according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The show ran in the UK for only two seasons and a two-part holiday special but spawned the U.S. NBC remake starring Steve Carell as Michael Scott that ran for a successful nine seasons. Gervais made a cameo as David in one of the U.S. episodes and also reprised the role for the 2016 film David Brent: Life on the Road.
Michael is a music and television junkie keen on most things that are not a complete and total bore. You can follow him on Twitter — @Tweetskoor
