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Transport for London (TfL) have responded to claims by Ricky Gervais that they banned a series of his adverts for his vodka brand.
The comedian has taken to social media in the past few weeks to allege that his promotions for Dutch Barn were “rejected” the tube, which depicted the star with a drink alongside a several different taglines.
They include: “One day you’ll be underground”, “Your tube driver’s favourite drink in the morning”, “Enjoy life, you’ll be dead soon” and “Welcome to London, don’t forget your stab vest”.
TfL have responded, saying in a statement (via Metro): “These adverts were never referred to TfL or their advertising partners for consideration. Alternative creatives for Dutch Barn have been accepted and are running on our network.”
They said no. https://t.co/YsYc3LQ3dO pic.twitter.com/bo1Hyr9gRp
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) October 31, 2025
Gervais also shared a video on his Instagram page, where he vented about the situation and said he was “fucking sick and tired of the powers that be banning my fucking billboard and adverts for Dutch Barn”.
“Sometimes there’s just nothing wrong with them,” he said. “One that was meant for the tube station just had me having a drink, and it just said, ‘one day you’ll be underground for good’. That was it. They went, ‘no, can’t have that’. Because it might make people think because life’s short, we should drink to excess. Who’s fucking thinking that?
“Oh my god, cowardly fucking c***s. Do you think it’s my attitude? But you can’t win, because you’re not allowed to say alcohol’s good for you or it does think or it makes you feel confident or it makes you feel attractive. Which is fine. I went the other way.”
He went on to claim: “There was one advert, I was reading from my laptop from government websites just saying about all the dangers from alcohol. They went, ‘no we don’t like that’. Do you know why? Because they don’t like the truth either, because that puts off other advertisers.
“Fuck me, honestly. So this is what we’re going to do. Fuck ’em. I’m going to sell directly to you… save donkeys, fuck censors, Dutch Barn.”
Back in September, Gervais took down a social media post where he criticised political speeches by celebrities at the Emmy Awards. The original post referred to his 2020 Golden Globes monologue, in which he suggested stars are in “no position to lecture the public about anything”.
Last month, the comedian said he wouldn’t return to host the Golden Globes, writing on X: “Nah, Fuck that.”
The post TfL respond to Ricky Gervais claims about “rejected” and “banned” ads appeared first on NME.