Five-Time Golden Globes Host Ricky Gervais Says He Would Have Instead Joked About Jada Pinkett Smith’s ‘Boyfriend’

Stand-up comedy legend and five-time Golden Globe Awards host Ricky Gervais recently discussed the assault that occurred at the Oscars by actor Will Smith on comedian Chris Rock over a joke about Smith’s wife and actress, Jada Pinkett Smith.

According to the UK publication Mirror, at a show in Highgate, north London, Gervais told the audience, “I’ll get it out of the way. I have not got any Will Smith material. I trended when that happened and I was not even there.”

“What has it got to do with me? People were going ‘What would have happened if Ricky Gervais had been doing it (hosting Oscars)?’” Gervais reportedly noted.

Gervais then reportedly deadpanned, “Well, nothing as I would not have made a joke about his wife’s hair. I would have made a joke about her boyfriend.”

As the Mirror noted, the Smiths made headlines in June 2020 when August Alsina claimed that he was in a relationship with Pinkett Smith, who later confirmed that they had been in an “entanglement.”

In a recent viral tweet, Gervais offered a bit of wisdom to some of his colleagues as well.

“Dear TV and film stars, why are some of you so f*cking weird? You’re actors. Some of you, great actors. So just act normal. Simple,” Gervais declared.

Dear TV and film stars, why are some of you so fucking weird? You're actors. Some of you, great actors. So just act normal. Simple.

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) March 31, 2022

During the most recent time that he hosted the Golden Globes, in 2020, Gervais delivered an opening monologue mocking many in Hollywood.

The award show was held in January of that year, just prior to the COVID-era.

As we reported at the time:

Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globes for the fifth and final time. Gervais let it fly in his opening monologue roasting everyone in attendance. Before he got started with his roast of Hollywood he reminded those in attendance and those watching “Remember they’re just jokes, we’re all going to die soon and there’s no sequel so… yeah, remember that.”

Gervais made a joke about Ronan Farrow coming after the executives in the room. Farrow went after NBC executives highlighting the alleged cover-up the company did on different sexual misconduct reports. No executives were fired and NBC did respond by calling Farrow a terrorist. The pan of the audience during the joke showed an awkward grimace on Johnathan Pryce’s face. 

Pryce was in the movie ‘The Two Popes’ that was the jab of Gervais’s next joke. “Talking of all l you perverts it was a big year for pedophile movies ‘Surviving R Kelly’ ‘Leaving Neverland’ ‘Two Popes’. Pryce played Pope Francis in the film.

Gervais gives props to Netflix. “You could binge-watch the entire first season of ‘Afterlife’ instead of watching this show (Golden Globes). That that’s a show about a man who wants to kill himself because his wife dies of cancer and it’s still more fun than this, okay. Spoiler alert: season two is on the way, so in the end, he obviously didn’t kill himself just like Jeffery Epstein.” The Audience booed the joke, and Gervais was quick to say “Shut up, I know he’s your friend but I don’t care. You had to make your own way here on your own plane didn’t ya.”

Gervais also went after Martin Scorsese’s height, Leonardo DeCaprio’s dating life, James Corden, The movie Cats, Judy Dench and more. Throughout the monologue, Gervais made it clear he didn’t care what folks think, and this was the last time he would be hosting. He hit on the ‘woke’ Hollywood for his final joke telling the actors to not use their acceptance speeches as a platform to “So if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent, and your God and f*** off, OK? It’s already three hours long.”