Ricky Gervais has learned how to do Twitter polls, and he's using his new skill to troll Donald Trump supporters.
The British comedian, best known for starring in the BBC series "The Office" and offending people while hosting the Golden Globe Awards, asked the Twitterverse this week to choose the worst U.S. president ever. Trump won, hands down. He then asked Twitter to choose the best U.S. president ever. Barack Obama won, hands down. Needless to say, he framed the polls to get the results he wanted -- and to get a laugh.
Some Trump backers decided to mix it up with Gervais, with decidedly mixed results.
Gervais baited: "Watch: the same people that said Kathy Griffin's stunt was inciting violence say that Trump's stunt wasn't." He was referring to Griffin posing with a fake severed Trump head and the president's recent tweet of a video of himself pummeling a man during a long-ago WWE performance, with the CNN logo superimposed over the pummeled man's head.
Sure enough, the line tugged.
"You cannot physically body slam a corporation," Twitter user "D Fens" tweeted at Gervais. "You can however physically behead a person. The. Two. Are. Different."
Responded Gervais: "Can you shoot someone on 5th Avenue?"
Offered another Gervais critic: "You say controversial things all the time!! And then you criticize Trump for doing the same thing. There is a word for that. Hippocrate! [sic]"
The inevitable response: "No, that's the word for the things they transport large African water mammals in."
Gervais's ultimate conclusion: "So many snowflakes don't know they're snowflakes."
He asked his Twitter followers for advice: "Should I stop doing fair and democratic Twitter polls in case the results upset anyone?" The results:
43%: "There is no God."
37%: "No, they are scientific."
10%: "I'm a kiddy fiddler."
10%: "I'm very racist."
Of course the comedian wasn't going to stop doing "fair and democratic" Twitter polls. Noting that his worst-president-ever poll got some folks riled up, he offered a replacement: Worst person ever. Once again, Trump was featured.
Come on Trump supporters! Let's show the rest of the world. Who's the worst person ever?
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) July 5, 2017
At the moment, Trump leads with 70 percent of the vote.
Jesus is in second place with 18 percent, followed by Nelson Mandela with 7 percent and the Dalai Lama at 5 percent.
If you hurry, you can still make your vote count.
-- Douglas Perry