Ricky Gervais is known for his savage comments and Tom Hanks is known for his smiling, kind face, but a joke might have gone too far for the Castaway actor.
The British comedian has hosted the Golden Globes five times, in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, and 2020 - and the last one was the awards bash where he couldn't impress Tom. A picture of Tom frowning while Ricky is telling jokes made its way around the internet. The picture soon became a reaction meme, and Ricky was not impressed.
Ricky appeared on Christian O'Connell's Stuff Of Legends podcast in November 2020 and mentioned the photo. "The big meme was Tom Hanks going: 'Why is he saying that?'" He said, "And people are going, 'Oh look he's on his high horse.' But when Leonardo DiCaprio laughed, people loved him for it."
The Office creator warned: "I could say a lot worse things about them, but I don't want it to get really nasty and for no reason." He added: "I think people who laugh at a joke, they get a round of applause because people go, 'Oh that's good, they can take it.' we don't want people to be above it."
He then spoke about the "privileged" people, slightly taking aim at Tom for reacting how he did, as he remarked: "We even let people be privileged as long as they say, 'I know I'm privileged but I'm nothing really,' we don't like people to go 'Oh I deserve it, how dare you talk to me like that.' And we sense that, if we really think these people start believing their own hype, we want to bring them down a peg or two."
The incident could possibly be traced back to nine years earlier when Ricky was hosting the 2011 Golden Globes. Tom Hanks was set to take the stage with fellow actor Tim Allen. To introduce them, Ricky said: "What can I say about our next two presenters? The first is an actor, producer, and director whose moves have grossed over $3.5billion at the box office. He's won two Academy Awards and three Golden Globes for his powerful and varied performances, starring in such films as Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Castaway, Apollo 13, and Saving Private Ryan. The other is Tim Allen."
Tom hit back, sticking up for his Toy Story co-star as he said: "We remember when Ricky Gervais was a slightly chubby but very kind comedian, neither of which he is now."
Before Ricky hosted the 2020 Golden Globes, he admitted that he regretted making the jab at Tim Allen. "It's a fine joke. I'm teasing Tim Allen," he said, "But anyone standing next to Tom Hanks, unless it's Dustin Hoffman or Robert Redford or Robert De Niro, that could be me. But it happened to be Tim Allen. And I have nothing against Tim Allen. He's a good actor. He's probably a nice bloke."
It's unknown if the two have reconciled after the incident. If Ricky hosts the Golden Globes again maybe we'll find out.