Ricky Gervais ‘Christ’ Photo Isn’t Controversial. It’s Just Bad Art.
by Lawrence MeyersSo Ricky Gervais did a photo shoot and asked a bunch of questions over at HuffPo. Here’s my take on one particular image and then, since he asks a few questions that are somewhat provocative, I’ll take a stab at answering them.
The photo of him posing as a Christ-figure is worth addressing because it is most likely to generate controversy for obvious reasons. My first reaction was, frankly, disappointment. That’s the best he can do? I happen to think Mr. Gervais is hilarious, and his funniest material is usually the most provocative, but this one just fell flat.

After all, how many times are we going to be subjected to some knock-off of the Christ pose, which is obviously intended to inflame Christians? In short, it’s been done to death. Christians are an easy target and it doesn’t take much imagination, or cajones, to take pot shots at them. In America, it’s perfectly fine to hate on the Christians.
If Mr. Gervais had real cajones, he would have created an image that is offensive to Jews. Even though anti-Semitism runs deep and wide in this country, and often goes unrecognized and unreported, it’s still not so easy to openly hate on the Jews. There are enough organizations and individuals that will defend us against anything remotely offensive, but the social price is high enough that Mr. Gervais is too smart to risk his career.
Nor is he likely to provide an image offensive to militant Muslims. As John Nolte pointed out, they will literally take your head off if they don’t get the joke. Not only is Mr. Gervais likely fond of his head, Muslims are presently in the company of the P.C. Police. He’d likely to go P.C. jail for taking a swipe in that territory.






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