Coronavirus: Ricky Gervais hits out at stars ‘complaining from mansions’ as NHS staff risk their lives

Ricky Gervais has criticized celebrities and the rich complaining about the lockdown while NHS staff risk their lives to treat COVID-19 patients.

The comedian spoke of his gratitude to healthcare workers fighting coronavirus on the front line in an interview.

It comes as Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is deputising for Prime Minister Boris Johnson while he recovers from COVID-19, said the government does not expect to relax or lift the lockdown later this week and that the UK is still not “past the peak”.

“After this is over I never want to hear people moaning about the welfare state again, I never want to hear people moaning about nurses again. Or porters,” Gervais told The Sun.

“These people are doing 14-hour shifts and not complaining. Wearing masks, and being left with sores, after risking their own health and their families’ health selflessly.

“But then I see someone complaining about being in a mansion with a swimming pool. And, you know, honestly, I just don’t want to hear it.”

Gervais, who is currently promoting the second series of his Netflix show After Life, in which he plays a local journalist who decides to say and do whatever he wants following the death of his wife, also spoke about his upbringing, saying life was a “struggle” when he was younger.