Overview
- On BBC Radio 4’s This Cultural Life, Gervais said comedians can now mock only working‑class people without blowback.
- Netflix released Mortality on 30 December, filmed at London’s Palladium, with Gervais railing against “educated, middle‑class, elitist” critics and declaring a win over cancel culture.
- Gervais said he would now avoid joking about disadvantaged people and would add trigger warnings, while stressing he has no regrets about past material.
- Early reviews fault the special for self‑indulgence and diminishing returns, with critics arguing the show leans on lectures about free speech over fresh insights.
- Reaction is shaped by his recent controversies, including GLAAD’s condemnation of 2022’s SuperNature and Office producer Ash Atalla’s reassessment of allowing disability jokes in 2001.