Updated: Ricky Gervais quit Twitter last year, right before his last Golden Globes performance.
“I am sorry, but I am going to stop these tweets because I don’t see the point. Please follow my blog at rickygervais.com,” he sent as a parting tweet. He had started a Twitter account in December 2009 at the behest of the Golden Globes, to help promote the event.
Maybe that’s a good thing for Gervais, because his performance this year blew up on Twitter. And not in a good way. While his fans were supportive, most blasted his incendiary jokes. At one point, 9 of the 10 Twitter trends were related to the Golden Globes.
So did the controversy translate to ratings? We’ll never know, as the numbers are flat over last year, with a 5% dip in the 18-49 crowd. You can call that a success, or like many TV critics, a failure. “Even if you love a certain comic, three hours of watching the guy die in the room in which he’s performing makes for uncomfortable TV,” writes Washington Post TV columnist Lisa de Moraes.
In the social media world, controversy helps drive conversation, and often, TV ratings. But in the end, as they say, it has to be good TV.
Updated to point out that Gervais quit Twitter last year, not this year.