Ricky Gervais is the wrong person to be torching Hollywood over its love affair with Apple. | Source: Paul Drinkwater / NBCUniversal / Handout via REUTERS
- Ricky Gervais roasted Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) for making iPhones in “sweatshops.”
- He made the joke at the Golden Globes with Apple CEO Tim Cook present.
- Gervais said working with Apple is not “woke,” but in real life, the comedian appears to be a not-so-woke Apple fanboy himself.
Apple CEO Tim Cook seemed to take it in stride when stand-up comic Ricky Gervais brought up the well-worn allegations of iPhone “sweatshops” in China.
Cook was at the 77th Golden Globes ceremony because Apple TV+ picked up three big nominations for “The Morning Show.” Of course, for the last decade, the cost of admission is getting roasted mercilessly by Ricky Gervais.
Gervais panned Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), along with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Disney (NYSE:DIS), comparing them to ISIS and rebuking Hollywood actors that work for their streaming services:
Apple rolled into the TV game with a superb drama about the importance of dignity and doing the right thing, made by a company that runs sweatshops in China.
He even compared the streaming giants to ISIS for lack of moral scruples:
So, you say you’re woke, but the companies you work for, unbelievable. Apple, Amazon, Disney. If ISIS started a streaming service, you’d call your agent, wouldn’t you?
Then Gervais told the actors to stay in their lane and keep out of politics:
If you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech. You’re not in a position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real-world. Most of you spent less time in school than Greta Thunberg. So, if you win, come up, accept your little award, thank your agent and your god, and f**k off.
But maybe Ricky Gervais should stay in his lane. If working with Apple is a gateway drug to joining ISIS, he’ll be posing in photos with cut-off heads like Kathy Griffin in no time.
Ricky Gervais Uses ‘Sweatshop’ iPhones
Here’s a paparazzi photo of Ricky Gervais’ longtime partner, Jane Fallon, giggling at something on his— what’s that? An iPhone?
Whatchya got there, Ricky? Oh look, it’s a picture of an iPhone tweeted from Ricky Gervais’ iPhone.
Source: Twitter
The Apple Chinese ‘Sweatshops’ Nothingburger
When Ricky Gervais launched the failed social media platform “Just Sayin’” in 2012, it was only available on desktop and iOS devices.
That was after two years of headlines about the highly publicized suicides at the massive iPhone factory site of “Foxconn City” in Shenzhen, China.
It’s hip to bash Apple, but obviously not as hip as owning the latest iPhone. | Source: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/AFP
The suicides of factory workers were linked to low pay and working conditions by “woke” press. They built a narrative around the deaths to smear Apple.
But the suicide rate at this factory was below China’s national average. That’s something you didn’t hear about in many of the woke muckrakers’ reports.
The latest rash of anti-Apple stories in 2019 aren’t even as serious. This time around, it’s not suicides, but hiring more seasonal workers than allowed by Chinese law.
Ricky Gervais was just joking, but maybe he’s less qualified than the actors he ribbed to wade into woke political controversies.
This article was edited by Josiah Wilmoth.
