Ricky Gervais hosted the Golden Globes on Sunday evening with his customary caustic view of Hollywood. “Shut up, you disgusting, pill-popping, sexual deviant scum,” he greeted the audience in his opening monologue. As expected, Gervais didn’t hold back, cracking jokes at the expense of Caitlyn Jenner, Jeffrey Tambor, Jennifer Lawrence, and Sean Penn. But it was later in the evening when he had to introduce Mel Gibson that Gervais proved why he might just be the most fearless person in Hollywood.
Gibson’s return to the Globes for the first time in several years marked a would-be comeback for the disgraced actor. Gervais made reference to the last time he introduced Gibson (when he famously said “I like a drink as much as the next man … unless that man is Mel Gibson”) and slyly reminded everyone about Gibson’s notorious drunken anti-Semitic rant, before telling the crowd at the Beverly Hilton that he wanted to say something nice about Gibson this time. “Here goes … I’d rather have a drink with him in his hotel room tonight than Bill Cosby.” After the two embraced on stage, Gervais said he wanted to ask Gibson a question. NBC bleeped it out, but eagle-eyed lip-readers on social media determined that Gervais asked “What the f*ck does ‘sugar t*ts’ even mean?” Gibson’s response? “Ask the other guy; it wasn’t me.”
