RANT - Ricky's hypocritical detractors

We already know the media is deeply flawed.

Whether it's goading demonstrators into violence on camera, making big headlines out of otherwise inane stories, or trying to convince us that "high definition doppler radar" makes their weather forecasts more accurate than "US minted coin flipping". But the fuss over last night's Golden Globes Awards, and specifically Ricky Gervais' mastering of ceremonies, is 100% hypocrisy.

Every news outlet not worth its salt was this morning bemoaning Gervais' "off color" remarks, while at the same time gleefully re-printing those exact same remarks.

And drawing special attention to how Gervais introduced Robert Downey Jr with the words ".. many of you will know him from his appearance at facilities like The Betty Ford Clinic, and Los Angeles County Jail" but NOT mentioning that Downey's speech then went on to creepily suggest that each of his female co-stars sleep with him to get his luck to rub off on them was just plain unbalanced.

Why am I surprised?

Anyway, this is too good an opportunity for me to repeat what I thought were refreshingly funny introductions:

"And now, Ashton Kutcher's dad, Bruce Willis".

He described the film I Love You Philip Morris as "Two heterosexual actors pretending to be gay – so the complete opposite of some famous Scientologists, then". Neither Tom Cruise nor John Travolta were in the audience.

Paul McCartney was though, to hear Gervais introduce The Social Network, a film about gazillionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg by saying "Heather Mills calls him 'the one that got away’".

There were jokes about Charlie Sheen: "It's gonna be a night of partying and heavy drinking. Or as Charlie calls it: 'breakfast'".

He also poked fun at The Tourist, the flop starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp - both of whom were in the audience smiling gamely. Explaining that it had been a big year for 3D movies, Gervais quipped: "It seems like everything this year was three-dimensional... except the characters in The Tourist." 

Twisting the knife, he said "I'd like to quash this ridiculous rumour going around that the only reason The Tourist was nominated was so the Hollywood Foreign Press could hang out with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp. That is rubbish. That is not the only reason. They also accepted bribes". 

The HFPA is currently being sued for $2m by a publicist who claims its members accept lavish gifts in exchange for supporting particular films. The HFPA denies the allegations.

Gervais also made a dig at the organisation's president, Philip Berk, saying: "I had to help the HFPA president off the toilet and pop his teeth back in." 

Lovely stuff Ricky, even if it's the last time they invite you.