Ricky Gervais Calls Chris Rock’s Oscars Joke “Tame,” Reveals Line He Would Have Used Instead – Deadline

Ricky Gervais gave fans a more fulsome idea of what his jokes would have been, had be been in Chris Rock’s place at the Oscars.

Gervais, who has hosted the Golden Globes five times, said in a recent video chat with fans that Rock’s joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s hair was “like the tamest joke I would’ve ever told.”

When people asked the frequent Globes host what would have happened to him in the same circumstances he replied, “Nothing.”

“Nothing would happen to me because I wouldn’t have told a joke about his wife’s hair. I’d have told a joke about her boyfriend.” (Pinkett Smith has said she was “in a relationship” with a younger man when she and Smith were on a break from their relationship in 2020.)

As for Pinkett Smith’s hair — she suffers from alopecia, which occurs when the immune system attacks hair follicles, causing uneven hair loss — and Rock’s joke, Gervais said, “Someone said it was joking about her disability.”

The comedian’s reply?

“Well I’m going a bit thin, I’m disabled,” he said while pointing to his hair in the video chat. “I can park right up next to Tesco’s now [in disabled parking]. I’m fat. That’s a disease. I’m fat and balding.”