Ricky Gervais has hit out at people who have called Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia a ‘disability’ as he weighed in on Will Smith’s divisive Oscars slap.

The comedian, 60, said Chris Rock’s joke about Jada’s alopecia ‘wasn’t bad’ and described it as the ‘tamest joke’ he would have told as he spoke during a live Q&A session on Twitter.

He has been vocal in criticising Will, 53, for storming on stage during the 94th Academy Awards and slapping Chris after the stand-up comedian made a joke about his wife’s shaved head, comparing her to ‘G.I. Jane’.

Responding to people hitting out at Chris for making the joke, Ricky scoffed at social media users who have referred to alopecia, a hair loss condition, as a ‘disability’.

‘Someone said it was joking about her [Jada’s] disability. Well I’m going a bit thin, so I’m disabled. That means I can park right up next to Tescos now,’ he quipped.

Letting out a laugh, he added: ‘And I’m fat, that’s a disease. I’m fat and balding, I should get f***ing benefits.’

The Office star went on to insist that Chris’s comment ‘wasn’t bad’ as he condemned Will for slapping the Oscars host for making a joke.

He said: ‘You don’t hit people over a joke, however bad it is. And it wasn’t bad!

‘That was like the tamest joke I would ever have told.’

It is not the first time Ricky has voiced his opinions on the notorious slap, previously quipping that he would never had joked about Jada’s hair loss, but would have ribbed her about her ‘boyfriend’ instead.

Ricky’s fans around the world were keen to know what he would have done, having made unforgiving digs at his fellow stars while hosting the Golden Globe Awards in 2020.

While testing new material at a show in London’s Highgate this week, Ricky said according to the Mirror: ‘I’ll get it out of the way. I have not got any Will Smith material. I trended when that happened and I was not even there.

‘What has it got to do with me? People were going ‘What would have happened if Ricky Gervais had been doing it (hosting Oscars)?’

‘Well, nothing as I would not have made a joke about his wife’s hair. I would have made a joke about her boyfriend.’

Jada hit the headlines in June 2020 when singer August Alsina, 29, claimed he had been in a relationship with Jada, with the actress later confirming they were in an ‘entanglement’.

The joke made by Chris referenced Jada’s buzz cut, which she had done after suffering hair loss due to alopecia, a condition the awards host was reportedly unaware Jada suffered with.

But Ricky joked he may name his new comedy tour after the condition, saying: ‘This new material is going to be for my new show called Armageddon. I might change that to Alopecia.’

Ricky had previously taken to Twitter to share a clip from his BBC sitcom The Office, in which he played bumbling office manager David Brent, to address the Oscars slap.

The short video saw David announce to a group of stunned employees: ‘Particularly for his wife. And she’s got alopecia. So… not a happy home life.’

The clip was taken from season two, episode two of the hit show, in which he attempts to curry favour with his employees by taking them out for a lunchtime drinking session.

In his trademark cringe-inducing style, David tells his disgruntled employees: ‘Welcome to Alcoholics Anonymous! No – purely social.

‘I know someone who is an alcoholic and it is no laughing matter – particularly for his wife. And she’s got alopecia. So… not a happy home life.’

In his acceptance speech at the Oscars, Will apologised to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – whose members vote for the awards, and who stages the ceremony – but stopped short of apologising to Rock.

Will initially laughed off the attack, writing on Instagram after the awards ceremony: ‘You can’t invite people from Philly or Baltimore nowhere!!’

Yet as the gravity of the situation became clear, Smith then posted a public apology to Instagram 24 hours after the ceremony, saying he wanted to say sorry formally to Chris.

He said his behaviour was ‘unacceptable and inexcusable’ and left him ’embarrassed’.

‘I would like to publicly apologise to you, Chris,’ he wrote.

‘I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.

‘There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.’

Two days after the incident, Will’s wife, Jada, 50, finally broke her silence with an Instagram post that read, ‘This is a season for healing and I’m here for it.’

Amid the fallout from the slap, work on the fourth instalment of the Bad Boys film franchise has been halted by Sony following the Oscars scandal, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film would have seen Will reunited with co-star Martin Lawrence as a maverick Miami drugs agent.

And Netflix has reportedly slowed down production on its planned action thriller movie Fast and Loose, which stars Will.

In another development, Will’s biopic is said to have been thrown into chaos after Netflix and Apple+ reportedly pulled out of a bidding war.

Insiders are believed to have claimed the two streaming giants removed their competitive bids on the film about the Hollywood star’s life, based on his best-selling autobiography Will.