Ricky Gervais Tries To Defend Offensive Tweets

Unsuccessfully, in my eyes. Readers, I’ve never heard of slang dictionaries, or urban dictionaries. Maybe that makes me a few letters short of the English alphabet- but I don’t think there were such things when I started using slang as a teenager. Even if they do exist today, that’s hardly the point, is it? Fifty year olds know what the ‘M’ word used to mean. So they should have stopped using it long ago, especially if they are famous or in the public eye.

Ricky Gervais has also contradicted himself in the Sun article below. Or maybe he doesn’t know that Susan Boyle has learning disabilities?

When, oh when, will British comedy go back to being just harmless fun?

COMIC Ricky Gervais was rapped by disability groups last night for a string of “mong” jokes.

He uses the word on Twitter in phrases like “Good monging” and “Two mongs don’t make a right”.

He posts snaps of himself in what he calls “monged-up” poses, with captions like: “My favourite drink is toilet.”

And he once referred to singer Susan Boyle as “looking like a mong”.

Mongol is an offensive and dated reference to people with Down’s Syndrome.

Mark Gale, of Mencap, said yesterday: “It’s very disappointing. Such language can perpetuate discriminatory attitudes.”

Frank Buckley, of Down Syndrome Education International, said: “Most would consider it as offensive as comparable terms of abuse referring to racial background or sexual orientation.”

But Ricky, 50, insisted: “I have never used the word Mongol. I have used ‘mong’, but never to mean Down Syndrome and never would.”

He added: “The meaning of words change over time — ‘gay’ for example. The modern use of the word ‘mong’ means dopey or ignorant — it’s in slang and urban dictionaries.”