Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
A week before the start of Pride Month, comedian Ricky Gervais is being criticized for his new stand-up special, in which he mocks transgender women and the debate around bathroom access.
The special, called "SuperNature," debuted Tuesday on Netflix.
A few minutes into the set, Gervais describes reading a comment from somebody calling him "as funny as a fart at a baby's funeral," and transitions to a joke about women. From there, he clarifies: "The old-fashioned women, the ones with wombs."
He goes on to reference debates about bathroom access.
"And now the old-fashioned ones say, 'Oh, they want to use our toilets.' 'Why shouldn't they use your toilets?' 'For ladies!' 'They are ladies -- look at their pronouns! What about this person isn't a lady?' 'Well, his penis.' 'Her penis, you f***ing bigot!'"
Gervais shares his thoughts on cancel culture, calling it "virtue-signalling." Later in the special, the comedian says he supports transgender rights in real life but makes fun of the topic because he makes fun of everything.
"Trans rights are human rights. Live your best life. Use your preferred pronouns. Be the gender that you feel that you are," he says. "But meet me halfway, ladies. Lose the c**k."
Both Gervais and Netflix were met with backlash online within hours of the special's release, with some calling out Gervais' remarks for being transphobic and the streaming giant for giving them a platform.
"(SuperNature is) full of graphic, dangerous, anti-trans rants masquerading as jokes. He also spouts anti-gay rhetoric & spreads inaccurate information about HIV," LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD wrote on Twitter, adding that Netflix was going against its own policy of not allowing content "designed to incite hate or violence."
Netflix did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.
Gervais has been described as an "equal-opportunity offender," a comedian with a previous history of polarizing jokes. And it's not the first time Netflix has been criticized for giving a platform to transphobic views. Dave Chappelle has made jokes about transgender people in multiple Netflix specials, most recently in late 2021, when he made explicit jokes about the bodies of transgender women in his special "The Closer."
Multiple trans rights advocates, including some Netflix employees, and civil rights organizations at the time called on the company to take Chappelle's special down.
In a description about its organizational culture, Netflix lays out the company's position on artistic expression.
"Not everyone will like -- or agree with -- everything on our service," reads a statement on the company's website. "While every title is different, we approach them based on the same set of principles: we support the artistic expression of the creators we choose to work with; we program for a diversity of audiences and tastes; and we let viewers decide what's appropriate for them, versus having Netflix censor specific artists or voices."
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
B.C. conservation officers recently seized a nine-foot-long Burmese python from a home in Chilliwack.
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
The Ontario government is introducing changes to auto-insurance, but some experts say the move is ill-advised.
A Toronto restaurant introduced a surprising new rule that reduced the cost of a meal and raised the salaries of staff.
Newfoundland’s unique version of the Pine Marten has grown out of its threatened designation.
A Toronto man is out $12,000 after falling victim to a deepfake cryptocurrency scam that appeared to involve Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.
There’s a group of people in Saskatoon that proudly call themselves dumpster divers, and they’re turning the city’s trash into treasure.
Ontario is facing a larger than anticipated deficit but the Doug Ford government still plans to balance its books before the next provincial election.