Celebrity1 min(s) read
Published 17:39 15 Jul 2020 GMT
Ricky Gervais has described Cancel Culture as a "weird sort of fascism" in an interview with talkRadio.
This comes as a large number of celebrities have found themselves "canceled" for past or recent behavior that has been deemed unacceptable by the masses.
Canceling is typically done on social media, with a recent example being J.K. Rowling, who was "canceled" after expressing controversial views about transgender people that had her branded a TERF (a trans-exclusionary radical feminist).
Rowling's comments resulted in the hashtag '#CancelJKRowling' trending on Twitter.
However, in Gervais' opinion, cancel culture creates an "us versus them" dynamic that is eroding people's right to free speech.
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In the talkRadio interview, the comedian and actor said cancel culture is "new weird sort of fascism", centered around people not knowing "what you can say and what you can't say".
He continued: "It's a really weird thing that there's this new trendy myth that people who want free speech want it to say awful things all the time, which just isn't true. It protects everyone…
"The two catastrophic problems with the term 'hate speech' is, one, what constitutes hate speech? Everyone disagrees. There's no consensus on what hate speech is.
"Two, who decides? And there’s the real rub because obviously the people who think they want to close down free speech because it's bad are the fascists. It's a really weird, mixed-up idea that these people hide behind a shield of goodness."
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Gervais claimed that people can't win on social media and used extreme examples to illustrate this point, claiming that anyone who is "mildly left-wing on Twitter" is Soviet revolutionary Leon Trotsky, and anyone who is "mildly conservative" is Hitler.
The Extras star added that if you're "centrist and you look at both arguments" then you're a coward and added his classic mantra: "Just because you're offended it doesn't mean you're right."
This comes after Gervais discussed whether or not The Office, which first aired back in 2001 would succeed in 2020.
He said that while some people may "love it and get it", "mob rule" would result in those in charge of the show's creation and distribution being "bullied" by those who may find it offensive.
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Gervais said that ultimately, it's not a good thing to live in a world where people are afraid to speak their minds because they are afraid of causing offense and being canceled.
He explained: "Offence is good because it makes you think and it makes you come up with an argument. And what's happened recently is that 'I'm offended' has replaced an argument."
