HFPA prez defends Gervais' tactics

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15 (UPI) -- As Ricky Gervais prepares to host the Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles, one of the show's top organizers has defended "that naughty boy" against criticism.

In the past two years, the film industry and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has had a love/hate relationship with its now three-time host of the awards show, Ricky Gervais, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

The co-creator of the original British version of "The Office," said by now he has reached the point where he feels "bulletproof" about his career despite offending so many of the entertainment industry's great and good, the HFPA Web site reported.

"If you get fun with it, which I do and I demand, and you get your own way and are happy with what you've done, then nothing can happen to you. You're bulletproof," Gervais said.

Last year Gervais skewered Robert Downey Jr., Bruce Willis, Hugh Hefner, Tom Cruise, Cher and the top organizer of the Golden Globe Awards, Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Aida Takla-O'Reilly, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

"I had to help the HFPA president off the toilet," Gervais said, "and pop his teeth back in." Takla-O'Reilly, 82, is a woman.

Although targeted herself, Takla-O'Reilly, spent the summer of 2011 salving the wounded feelings of the other 83 members of the HFPA trying to convince them to re-hire "that naughty, naughty schoolboy, Ricky Gervais" for a third year.

NBC was supported the rehire of Gervais, believing his controversial tongue drew viewers in, the Times said.

"Everything I say, I can justify it. … They're just gags," Gervais said on the HFPA Web site. "I'm not trying to hurt anyone's feelings or give them a bad night or undermine the moral fabric of America. I'm a comedian."

"I'd rather you laugh than gasp, but I cherish the gasps along with the laughs."