As he claims 'we won' against cancel culture

Ricky Gervais has been given his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

And at the ceremony he joked that it was a ‘genuine thrill’ to be honoured alongside other icons, citing ‘Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby, Fatty Arbuckle’ – all of whom faced   sexual assault accusations.

More seriously, the 63-year-old told the assembled crowd: ‘I’d love to claim it was due to my unrivalled genius, but truth be told it's a cocktail of luck persistence and a little bit of pushing against the tide.

‘You’ve got to polarise. I think you need to know that if you're doing anything of any worth as many people hate you as love you, but that shouldn't affect you. The the ones that love you, they buy your house.’

And he also spoke about about ‘a few weird years of cancel culture - people telling you what you can and can't laugh at or talk about’.

‘But we pushed back and we won,’ he said. ‘Until the next time.’

He added: ‘I was nervous because when they first told me I got this as  the first thing I thought about was, "Do I have to get down on all fours and put my hands in concrete?" I just thought, "I won't get back up, and that'll be embarrassing, but I don't have to do that." Me standing here now is as embarrassing and awkward as it gets. 

Christopher Guest delivered a speech at the unveiling, pretending that Gervais has written his words, likening his genius to Einstein, Newton and Marie Curie.

Gervais said he invited Guest to attend as he ad been a mentor, adding: ‘He’s the biggest single influence on my comedy, I'd say. 

‘Spinal Tap is still my favourite comedy movie of all time. I stole the mockumentary format and naturalism for The Office and subsequently for most things I've done since. He is a genius.’

Netflix boss Ted Ted Sarandos also attended the ceremony, with Gervais explaining how the executive ‘enabled the second half of my career’.

He recalled: ‘In 2012, I got Ted's email and I sent him this, "I've heard Netflix is the future. I want to do my next project with you." He sent back, "We'll take it."

‘That was Derek, and as an artist, thank you. As an artist, you want to many people to see your work as possible but with as little interference as possible and Netflix is a no-brainer.

‘After Life was apparently the most-watched British comedy in the world and that's due to Netflix’s enormous platform and their algorithm and things i don't understand. It’s also got a dog in it, so boom, TV gold.’

Gervais’s is the 2,813th star at the Los Angeles landmark, unveiled before the comic played the Hollywood Bowl as part of his Mortality stand-up show. 

Walk of Fame producer Ana Martinez said: ‘Finally, a star that will give snarky commentary every time someone walks by... I always knew we needed a comedian's touch on our famed sidewalk’

Published: 31 May 2025