After ranting and defending himself against the backlash over his offensive jokes about transgender women, the upcoming Golden Globe Award host declares 'trans women are women' on Twitter.

• Dec 23, 2019

AceShowbiz - Ricky Gervais has come under fire for his jokes which are deemed transphobic, just weeks ahead of his Golden Globe-hosting stint. The British comedian has received backlash on Twitter after he weighed in on the criticism received by "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling for supporting a researcher claiming biological sex cannot be changed.

When a Twitter user mocked critics' vicious attacks on Rowling, the creator of the original "The Office" U.K. series responded, "Yep. They've created a dogma with its own blasphemy laws. Chilling." When someone blasted the firing of the researcher who made the controversial transgender claim, Ricky seemed to agree, writing, "They don't want to argue. They can't afford to have their propositions questioned. They want to create a dogma with its own blasphemy laws and the 'fatwah' of labelling people bigots to shut them down, ostracise them and even have them fired."

He also posted a sarcastic comment on a tweet posted on parody account by Jarvis Dupont. "Those awful biological women can never understand what it must be like for you becoming a lovely lady so late in life," Ricky jokingly wrote. "They take their girly privileges for granted. Winning at female sports and having their own toilets. Well, enough is enough." He went on accusing "men" of eroding "the rights of women" through a "new cunning way to dominate and demonize an entire sex."

After people called him transphobic for his tweets, the 58-year-old brazenly defended himself, claiming that his comment about transgender women being predators was based on facts. "Maybe you haven't been following the various stories of male predators hiding beneath the trans umbrella and exploiting self ID to abuse women. That's why I said men and not trans women. Hope that's clearer Cody," he wrote.

Replying to another user, the funnyman insisted, "Ah, you've confused a joke tweet to a spoof account with my true feelings. But to answer your question I have nothing against anyone looking after their mental health. Be well."

He later claimed that his tweet was "sarcasm," before declaring, "Sure. I think trans women are women. I wasn't talking about trans people." In another post, he appeared to blast the outcry over his jokes as writing, "I fear that some people's inability to discuss sensitive or contentious issues without insult or threat will lead to society ending like a battle scene from Game Of Thrones. Hopefully, science, truth & common sense has all the dragons."

Digging deeper into Ricky's older tweets, this wasn't the first time he was slammed for making transgender jokes. His response which was posted on the micro-blogging site in late October read, "I don't try to offend, but the more people are offended by a joke, particularly on twitter, the funnier I find it. And the angrier the tweet, the more chance of me using it and turning it to laughs and cash. PC culture isn't killing comedy. It's driving it. As it always did."

Ricky is set to host the 77th Golden Globe Awards on January 5, 2020. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has not responded to the controversy surrounding the "After Life" star's tweets and it's currently unknown how it will affect his involvement in the annual award event. Kevin Hart previously lost his Oscar-hosting gig after his old homophobic remarks surfaced.