Ricky Gervais Tells 'Brutal' Will Smith Joke After Actor Is Banned From Oscars

Ricky Gervais has reacted to Will Smith’s 10-year Oscars ban with a 'brutal' joke - did we expect anything less?

Yesterday (8 April), the Academy Board of Governors gave its verdict on what repercussions Smith should face for slapping Chris Rock on stage at last month’s ceremony. 

Following the announcement the King Richard star wouldn’t be allowed to attend the Academy Awards for a decade, Gervais has chimed in with a quip about the decision. 

Sharing the news on Twitter, he wrote: “Hopefully, he’ll only do 6 years with good behaviour.”

The post has received dozens of comments, with one writing: “Six years for slapping Chris Rock and an additional four for Wild Wild West.”

Another wrote: “I think he'll have to swerve Bad Boys 4 just to be on the safe side.”

A third joked: “So they've slapped a ban on him…”

"Hopefully people will take the p*ss even more just to wind him up. We all enjoy a good laugh at other peoples expense. Your jokes are brutal, just the way “God” intended," a fourth said.

Hopefully, he'll only do 6 years with good behaviour. https://t.co/26Et5zsLWA

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) April 8, 2022

Gervais has been outspoken about the incident, which unfolded after Rock made a G.I Jane joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett-Smith.

The comedian shared a clip on Twitter from The Office in which he discusses alopecia - the condition that Jada has admitted to having. 

Alongside the scene from the BBC series he co-wrote and starred in, he said: ​​“And she's got alopecia. So... not a happy homelife [sic]."

Hopefully people will take the piss even more just to wind him up. We all enjoy a good laugh at other peoples expense. Your jokes are brutal, just the way “God” intended.

— David (@DavidLewisRisca) April 8, 2022

Genius https://t.co/ughuCX7zbW

— Sweet'nSourScouser (@chairmanquan) April 8, 2022

During a live Q&A with fans, the After Life creator also condemned Smith’s actions while hitting out at those who describe alopecia as a ‘disability’.

“You don’t hit people over a joke, however bad it is. And it wasn’t bad!” he said. “That was like the tamest joke I would ever have told.”

Anyone who’s watched any of Gervais' stand-up or seen him hosting the Golden Globes will know this to be true. 

Gervais continued: “Someone said it was joking about her disability. Well I’m going a bit thin, so I’m disabled. That means I can park right up next to Tescos now.

"And I’m fat. That’s a disease, isn’t it?"

Gervais then joked he should be awarded disability support due to his physical appearance.

“I’m fat and balding,” he said. “I should get f***ing benefits.”

But the 60-year-old The Office creator didn’t stop there, as he also said he wouldn’t have joked about Jada’s alopecia - instead, he would have taken a shot at her boyfriend.

Testing new material at a recent show in Highgate, north London, Gervais said: “I trended when that happened and I was not even there.

“People were going, ‘What would have happened if Ricky Gervais had been doing it [hosting the Oscars]?'"

“Well, nothing,” he added, “as I would not have made a joke about his wife’s hair. I would have made a joke about her boyfriend.”

Gervais is referring to the fact that Jada admitted to having an affair with 29-year-old singer August Alsina in 2020, something she described as an ‘entanglement’.