With the world gearing up for Ricky Gervais's next assault on Hollywood, he wants to make one thing clear: he isn't being mean just to be mean.

In a new interview with Esquire ahead of his Sunday turn as Golden Globes host, Gervais says his barbed words toward his fellow celebrities have both populist and religious merits.

"Let's get this in perspective: They're the wealthiest, most privileged people in the world," he says. "Imagine if I had gone out there and said, 'We're all in the same gang. Aren't we brilliant? Us millionaires together.'"

Gervais's closing line during his rip-rollicking performance at least year's Globes saw him "Thank you to God that I'm an atheist." It raised eyebrows to make such a public denunciation of religion, but he says that it wasn't a matter of just declaring his own beliefs (or, non-beliefs). Again, it was a shot at the way he says many narcissistic celebrities act at when in the spotlight.

"It was a swipe at all those people who thank God because they won an award," he says. "How arrogant is that? There's war and famine and God's going, 'Know what Bullock? Write a speech. I'm not going to say anything, Sandra, but write a speech. That's all I'm saying.'"

Still, in the end, Gervais doesn't take the show all that seriously; he's got two television shows on the air in "Life's Too Short" and "An Idiot Abroad 2." Those, he told the New York Times, are his real passion projects.

"I do the Golden Globes like some people play golf on a Saturday," he said. "It's fun, but it can't affect me because come Monday morning, I'll be writing a new stand-up show or I'll be writing a new TV show or I'll be writing a new film. So it's not exactly bravery."

For more, click over to Esquire.