ABC/Eric Liebowitz(LONDON) — Emmy-winning actor and animal rights activist Ricky Gervais didn’t take to Twitter Sunday night to raise money for animal charities, but that’s just what he did by poking fun at the Kardashians.
Beer in hand — and with seemingly a few under his belt — Gervais spoke with fans in a livestream, during which he took issue with the Kardashians raking it in with lucrative sponsored tweets: Kim, Kylie, and the rest rake in money just by posting pics on social media while wearing a certain item or using a beauty treatment.
Gervais admits, “I get these offers to do endorsed tweets…proper mental money,” he says, meaning, well, a lot.
“I know the Kardashians get something like 20 grand for sitting on a bench, and going, ‘Oh, I love this new chocolate bar.'”
“I’ve been offered that sort of thing,” Ricky said, “and I’ve always said no.”
Gervais adds, “I think that’s sort of embarrassing. I want myself to be real…I don’t mind doing an advert when everyone knows I got paid to do an advert.”
However, as he sipped his beer, an IPA from a company called Brew Dog, an idea seemed to come to him: “Maybe I should just say to companies, ‘why don’t we be just honest?’ I like Brew Dog. I love Brew Dog, now give some money to charity. Don’t give it to me, just give it straight to charity.”
“I’ve got enough money,” Gervais declared. “I like [the beer]. So I can endorse things — I would have said it anyway, and they’re just giving money to charity. It’s perfect, isn’t it?”
In response, the Scotland-based brewery retweeted Gervais, noting, “We didn’t have to pay for this publicity so we donated money to these charities instead: @Nowzad @AllDogsMatter @AnimalsAsia @Paws2RescueUK. Cheers, Ricky Gervais!”
By Stephen Iervolino
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