Rosie Jones Calls Out Ricky Gervais & Jimmy Carr Over Trans Jokes, Offers Advice On ‘How To Joke Responsibly’

Comedian Rosie Jones is here to tell everyone what they can and can’t joke about, after calling out Ricky Gervais and Jimmy Carr for their trans jokes in a new interview with Attitude.

Rosie Jones, who has cerebral palsy and is always making self-deprecating jokes about herself, took aim at comedians who make inappropriate jokes about the trans community.

She told the outlet: It’s your Ricky Gervases, Jimmy Carrs. It’s just your privileged cis white straight men who open their newspaper and go, ‘Oh, people are talking about trans people. I can know a bit about that without experiencing it at all.’”

“To those boys, I’d say, with respect, shut the f–k up.”

Jones went on to explain ‘how to tell a joke responsibly’, because of course the best part about comedy is all the rules you have to follow in order to make people laugh.

She said: “Before you tell a joke, you need to analyse it, and that comes down to three things.”

“First, who are you? Do you have lived experience, or experience close to you?. Second, who is your joke about? What is your intention – is it positive or negative? Are you punching up or punching down?”

“And third, why are you telling the joke?” Are you asking a question to open up a conversation and make people think differently, or are you saying it simply to be controversial?”

On jokes targeting trans people: “It’s none of their f—ing business. Stop telling cheap f—ing jokes and leave it to the brilliant trans people who live in that world.”

Somehow I doubt Ricky Gervais and Jimmy Carr will heed that advice, but fair play to Rosie Jones – that’s her opinion and she’s put it out there despite knowing the backlash she’s going to get.

Personally, I think if a joke is genuinely clever and/or funny rather than blatantly malicious and mean-spirited, then there’s no reason for anyone to take issue with it, even if it’s coming from a person who has no personal experience of being trans or fat or disabled or whatever.

Sometimes we laugh at ‘offensive’ jokes precisely because we know we’re not supposed to. As long as it’s not lazy or ill-natured, joke about whatever you like IMO.

For the time an audience was accused of a ‘hate crime’ for not laughing at a trans comedian’s jokes, click HERE.