'I was naive': Finally Ricky Gervais apologises for 'mong' comments after mother of two disabled daughters is reduced to tears

Ricky Gervais was tonight finally forced into an apology over his use of the term ‘mong’ – after being criticised by the tearful mother of two disabled daughters.

The 50-year-old comedian claimed he had been ‘naïve’ to use the word without realising that it was still used to insult the disabled.

The Office creator and multi-millionaire star was drawn into a row this week after attempting to defend the use of the term mong in his work.

Apology: A mother of two disabled children was reduced to tears after Gervais posted a series of pictures of himself making faces



He had angered disability groups and fellow comedians by using the word in online messages, but insisted he only ever used it to mean a ‘div’.

However, yesterday, he was seemingly affected by Nicola Clark, a disability campaigner and mother of two disabled girls, who had broken down in tears while talking about the row on Jeremy Vine’s BBC Radio 2 show.

Mrs Clark had wept while discussing the abuse directed at her daughters by people on the street using words like ‘mong’.

Gervais then contacted Mrs Clark on Twitter to offer ‘a very public thank you’ for her ‘kind, rational and understanding words in private’ since the issue broke.

Offensive: Ricky Gervais' comments on Twitter

Prolific: The actor's photos of himself making funny faces were accompanied by references to 'mongs', which many claim is an insulting term for someone with Down's

'MONG': FROM ACCEPTED TO THE UNACCEPTABLE

Although Gervais claims 'mong' is no longer a derogatory term, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) still classifies it as offensive: Its entry states: 'Mongol: A person with Down's syndrome. Now generally regarded as offensive.' The use of the word harks back to the implied similarity in appearance of those with Down's syndrome and the Mongol race of East Asia - who established an empire in much of Eurasia during the 13th century. Its un-PC usage is cited in the OED as far back as 1866: 'I have for some time had my attention directed to the possibility of making a classification of the feeble-minded by arranging them around various ethnic standards. 'A very large number of congenital idiots are typical Mongols.' The citation is from none other than John Langdon Down - the man after whom Down's syndrome was named. It was Down's work at an asylum in Surrey in the late 1860s that led to the term 'Mongolian idiocy' being used to classify certain clinical cases. It was not until 1961 that the term Down's syndrome was first used, following consultation with genetics experts unhappy with the previous label.



Mrs Clark asked Gervais if she could ask him some questions, and in the following conversation yesterday the comedian admitted that his use of the word had been ‘naïve’.

The campaigner said: ‘I now understand that you didn’t and wouldn’t intentionally hurt anyone. Do you understand why people got upset by it?’, to which Gervais replied: ‘I do now. Never dreamed that idiots still use that word aimed at people with Down’s Syndrome. Still find it hard to believe.’

Asked how the anger towards his use of the word had made him feel, Gervais continued: ‘A mixture of confusion, anger, terror and disappointment. But mostly naïve. Never meant the word like that and never word. (sic)’ (meaning would)

On whether he condoned the behaviour of his 476,090 Twitter followers who abused those he disagreed with, he added: ‘Definitely not - reason I contacted you to be honest. The hate mail I had was psychotic and wouldn’t wish that on anyone.’

When asked how she thought he had been portrayed, Mrs Clark replied: ‘I think that had I not spoken to you, I would have believed that you were a bully. The tweets seemed out of step with your work.’

Gervais added: ‘Well all I can do is apologise and hope they don’t confus those people’s views with mine.’

Both Mrs Clark’s daughters suffer from severe autism.

In March, Mrs Clark wrote of the decision she and her husband faced of whether to put their 14-year-old daughter Emily into care.

She said: ‘Autism, learning disability and epilepsy are Emily’s diagnoses. Her level of care needs are high and her medical needs are in a fluid state as we try to achieve the correct epilepsy medication for her.’

While earlier this week, when talking about the term ‘mong’, Mrs Clark said: ‘My 17-year-old daughter knows what it means because it was used about her sister, and she herself was called retarded.’