Ricky Gervais has picked out his Halloween costume for 2019, and it’s inspired by a transgender activist who has been making headlines worldwide.
The British comedian explained he plans to dress up as Jessica Yaniv, a Canadian transgender activist who sued a small immigrant-run waxing business for refusing to wax male genitals. Yaniv garnered international attention after she filed the lawsuit when salon employees refused her service.
Gervais, 58, tweeted out Yaniv’s story and suggested that the “brave female activist” could make a good Halloween costume, instead of dressing up as something “weird or creepy.”
I was going to dress up as something weird and creepy for my Halloween party, but I’m bucking the trend this year and I’m going as brave female activist Jessica Yaniv. This also means I don’t have to wax my big old hairy balls. pic.twitter.com/ldAvI0b2ot
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) October 30, 2019
Gervais wrote that dressing up as Yaniv will be convenient because he won’t have to wax his “big old hairy balls.”
When Yaniv’s lawsuit first broke headlines, Gervais joined others in mocking the situation.
It’s a sad state of affairs when a lady can’t have her hairy balls waxed.
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) July 20, 2019
Yaniv lost her lawsuit after a judge ruled that someone cannot be required to wax male genitals if he or she is not trained to do so.
“Human rights legislation does not require a service provider to wax a type of genitals they are not trained for and have not consented to wax,” the judge stated.
The judge ordered the activist to pay $2,000 to each of the salon workers she dragged into the lawsuit and deemed that Yaniv had filed “complaints for improper purposes.”
