Ricky Gervais, who has never shied away from controversy, just found himself the target of much outrage after tweeting a joke about the celebrity nude photo hacking scandal that is currently taking much of Hollywood by storm. On Monday, Gervais tweeted, "Celebrities, make it harder for hackers to get nude photos from your computer by not putting nude pics of yourself on your computer." He ended up taking the tweet down, but only after receiving much backlash from critics who felt he was engaging in victim blaming. 

Gervais may now be wishing he had never even mentioned the scandal, which has impacted a large roster of celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton, Lea Michelle and many others who have had nude photos hacked from their computers and posted on the web. The comedian has now spent much of the day tweeting  in his own defense, first explaining "Making a joke about a thing doesn't mean you condone that things," and "Of course the hackers are 100% to blame, but you can still make jokes about it. Jokes don't portray your true feelings on a subject." He went on to insist that "It's more important to spend your energy actually trying to stop bad things than to run around trying to stop jokes about bad thing," and that "Offense in the collateral damage of free speech." 

Gervais has always been known for his envelope pushing sense of humor. In 2011, he made waves when he hosted the Golden Globe Awards, and turned the event into a giant roast of virtually everyone in attendance. Jokes included introducing Bruce Willis as "Ashton Kutcher's dad," and commenting that the team who airbrushed the movie poster for Sex And The City 2 should win the award for special effects, among many others. The comedian's performance created quite a stir, with people either loving or hating, but he drew enough viewers to get invited back to host the next year too. 

Gervais' acerbic wit clearly got his where he is today, but did he cross the line this time? Or was his original comment just a harmless joke, as he believes? Some celebs may be hesitant to forgive this time, but the the crucial question is, will the comedian's fans stand by him?