Ricky Gervais wants to live long enough to see the woke generation not be woke enough for the next
21 October 2021, 12:40 | Updated: 21 October 2021, 13:09
The After Life creator believes that people who are woke now will inevitably not be woke enough for future generations.
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Ricky Gervais thinks the young people of today won't be "woke" enough for the next generation.
The Office creator is known for being critical of cancel culture and suggested that the tables will turn on "woke" young people.
He explained to guest Sam Harris on his Absolutely Mental podcast: "I want to live long enough to see the younger generation not be woke enough for the next generation. It’s going to happen. Don’t they realise that it’s like, they’re next? That’s what’s funny."
"We kicked out the old guard. We did it," he added. "There’s only so woke and liberal you can get and then you start going the other way. But it’s inevitable."
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Gervais is a frequent critic of cancel culture and back in 2020 he talked about his growing fears about the trend.
Speaking to Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett on the Smartless podcast, he explained: "The scary thinking about being cancelled if you say the wrong thing and suddenly Netflix can take you off their platform.
"You could be the most woke, politically correct stand-up in the world at the moment, but you don’t know what it’s going to be like in 10 years' time. You can get cancelled for things you said 10 years ago."
Though the After Life creator thinks it's important to make people accountable for their actions, he dislikes when critics try to impose their ideas on other people.
He said: "The misunderstanding about cancel culture is some people think you should be able to say anything you want without consequences and that’s not true because we’re members of society and people are allowed to criticise you.
"They’re allowed to not buy your things, they’re allowed to burn your DVDs and they’re allowed to turn the telly off. What they’re not allowed to do is to bully other people into not going to see you."
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