Tim Minchin and Ricky Gervais do not like bullfighting.
It is something which still happens despite all the reasons why it absolutely should not, which is something about which both comedians appear to agree.
But because of Twitter, which is a window into the bleakness of men’s souls, we were treated to the sight of these men having a solid stoush on the subject – which, again, is about something about which they don’t actually disagree.
Minchin and Gervais have had very public disagreements in the past, most notably over Gervais’ use of the word “mong” as an insult. Which, again, was really about the two men approaching their comedy differently more than any fundamental disagreement about whether calling someone a race-based insult was a great thing or not.
But in any case, this new spat started with this tweet from Gervais, celebrating a bull who turned on the person fighting him and, not to put too fine a point on it, killing them:
And then Tim Minchin jumped in, pointing out that sure, except a dude died and why are we celebrating that?
This got a lot of support and pushback…
But this point led to Gervais firing back:
To which Mr Minchin replied…
And meanwhile there were other arguments going on…
And in some ways it neatly plays into the caricatures which people invent about both men: Gervais as a man without empathy who gets defensive when challenged (about bullfighting), and Minchin as an uptight killjoy who can’t help but lecture people (about bullfighting).
Which is unfair, because one of those men gave us this…
…and the other gave us this:
…so this is a bit like watching your dads fight. And this close to Fathers Day too! (Although let’s be honest, Minchin makes a strong point.)
Anyway, will this blow up into #bullgate? Feels like we have more things to be outraged about these days.