Ricky Gervais thanks “everyone who complained” for making ‘Armageddon’ “the most watched special in the world”

It was heavily criticised and resulted in a petition being launched

Ricky Gervais has thanked “everyone who complained” about his Netflix stand-up special Armageddon.

The comedian’s show was released on the streaming service on Christmas Day last year but immediately received criticism from a disability charity after using an ableist slur in the special.

A petition on Change.org also condemned Gervais’ use of the word “baldy” to describe terminally ill children. The comedian addressed the petition, saying the majority of people are “not really offended”.

Now, Gervais has taken to X to post a clip from the special where he jokes about immigration, along with the following: “Thanks to everyone who complained about this trailer and even signed a petition to get #Armageddon removed from Netflix. You helped it win a Golden Globe & become the most watched special in the world.”

The special took home the Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television award at the Golden Globes beating off Chris Rock who was favourite to win for his Selective Outrage special, as well as Trevor Noah’s Where Was I, Amy Schumer’s Emergency Contact, Sarah Silverman’s Someone You Love and Wanda Sykes’s I’m An Entertainer.

Gervais was previously criticised by some for making jokes about the trans community in a previous Netflix special, SuperNature. Elsewhere, he was recently accused of bullying by former comedian and touring partner Robin Ince.

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Ince was Gervais’ opening act during his stand-up shows in the ’00s and alleged that the bullying was so severe that it affected his health. He also said that Mackenzie Crook, Gervais’s co-star in The Office, once had to intervene.

“People who knew me did not like the way that relationship worked,” he claimed. “I am not saying it is a traumatic experience, but after two weeks, I came out in red lumps that my doctor said were a stress rash. I think my hair is coming out in clumps.

“I look back now, and I think it is bullying – really it is,” he said of the experience. “I’m very good at sometimes just acclimatising to things, in which you go, ­’Actually, this is really weird’.”

Meanwhile, actress Felicity Ward recently said Gervais personally approved casting a female equivalent of David Brent in the Australian remake of The Office.

Ward stars as the franchise’s first-ever female lead, playing Hannah Howard, the managing director of the Flinley Craddick packaging company. The series will arrive on Amazon Prime on October 18.