Ricky Gervais hires bodyguards at £10,000 a night after uproar over trans comments
dailystar.co.ukRicky Gervais has hired bodyguards at a cost believed to be £10,000 a night for stand-up gigs after being accused of poking fun at transgender people.
The Office star caused uproar with comments he made in a Netflix one-off special SuperNature last week. Now Gervais, 59, has recruited 10 security staff who were given their first job at a low-key warm-up appearance this week for a potential series of gigs.A source said he couldn’t “take any chances” following a stage attack on US comic Dave Chapelle, 48, last month at the Hollywood Bowl after his own Netflix special last year was accused of being transphobic.Chapelle was knocked to the floor on stage by a man armed with a replica gun fitted with a knife, but was uninjured.The Gervais team appeared in black suits wearing earpieces at star’s show at London’s Leicester Square Theatre.
The guards, located in the aisles and flanking him on stage, scanned the audience throughout his performance.Organisers had ordered that all the audience's bags to be searched and no-one was allowed bottles in their seats.One member of staff said: “There’s concern there might be trouble from trans activists.
If I were him, you can’t be too careful. Especially not at the moment.”Gervais joked to the audience: “I have some new thoughts – I can’t help it, they just arrive.
