Ricky Gervais wades into US politician row after Republican congressman's 'racist' and 'Islamophobic' post sparks resignation calls

The remark came after Palestinian-American activist Nerdeen Kiswani, co-founder of the pro-Palestinian organisation Within Our Lifetime, posted that dogs were "unclean" and suggested New York City was "coming to Islam."

Mr Fine claimed Ms Kiswani represented "one of the key mainstream Muslim groups that supported Mamdani," referring to Zohran Mamdani, the city's new mayor.

Democratic politicians swiftly condemned the post. California Governor Gavin Newsom responded bluntly on X: "Resign now, you racist slob."

Representative Robert Garcia of California branded the remarks "disgusting Islamophobia and dangerous bigotry," demanding Fine be stripped of his committee assignments and forced from office.

Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a statement declaring that congressional leaders "across the political spectrum should demand his resignation, which is long overdue." The civil rights organisation likened Fine to "a modern Klansman and Nazi."

The backlash extended well beyond Democratic circles. Former Fox News presenter Megyn Kelly responded to Fine's post with "Wtf is this."

If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.

— Congressman Randy Fine (@RepFine) February 15, 2026

Mark Mitchell, a pollster with the conservative-leaning Rasmussen Reports, quote-tweeted Mr Fine's remarks and warned the Republican Party: "Not a good look."

Mediaite senior editor Isaac Schorr called the Florida representative "an appalling embarrassment to his family and anchor tied around the ankles of his cause."

Mr Fine has shown no intention of backing down. Rather than apologising, he posted a series of memes featuring dogs on the iconic Gadsden flag, replacing the traditional snake with canines above the words "Don't Tread On Me."

Mr Gervais has seemingly attempted to make light of the controversy, taking to X to share one of his much-publicised banned drinks adverts.

The advert in question features Mr Gervais with a bottle of his Dutch Barn vodka as he poses alongside a German Shepherd.

The tagline of the advert reads: "If you don't like dogs, you can f*** off."

Appearing to mock the row surrounding Mr Fine's post, Mr Gervais dryly wrote: "This wasn't allowed in public incase it offended anyone. So please don't retweet it. Thanks."

Inevitably, it didn't take long for X users to react to the social media update, with it racking up over 1.2million views, 113k+ likes, and 43k+ reposts in 12 hours of publication.

The controversy surrounding Mr Fine's remarks was also debated on The Late Show, as GB News star Ben Leo discussed why the Republican congressman made the remarks and what the future may hold for him.

Political commentator Fahima Mahomed joined Ben for the conversation. "You know, we need to separate this. We have one activist expressing a conservative religious opinion about dogs being unclean indoors, which is a view not held by all Muslims," she began.

"And some Muslims do keep dogs in separate areas of the house, and some scholars say that, you know, this kind of impurity only applies if saliva contacts clothing before prayer. And it’s a matter of personal religious observance, not public law.

"But when a sitting US congressman responds by comparing Muslims to animals, that stops being a debate and becomes dehumanization.

"Neither side is engaging in reasoned discussion. One is asserting belief and the other is degrading 3.5 million American Muslims. And that’s not how pluralistic democracies function."

Ben weighed in: "I guess he just took offense to the suggestion that dogs — you know, man’s best friend, of course — should be banned from an entire city.

"And of course, what do you make of her comments as well, the activist, the Palestinian activist who says Islam is coming to New York City? What does that mean?"

Ms Mahomed replied: "Well, like you said, she’s an activist, and I think a lot of people, to get attention, they will be quite provocative when they comment. One tweet is not law. It’s not going to be, you know, banning anything.

‘When a US Congressman responds by comparing Muslims to animals, that stops being a debate and becomes de-humanising.’

Political commentator Fahima Mahomed weighs in on a US Congressman suggesting that the Islamic community want to remove dogs as pets. pic.twitter.com/Bv9uR8M4Oe

— GB News (@GBNEWS) February 17, 2026

"There’s no policy proposal. You know, we’re taking it way too seriously. It’s just a theological opinion, which in the end, she said it was a joke.

"But this congressman has previously made a series of anti-Muslim and inflammatory remarks on social media, including calling Gaza civilians demons that live on Earth who deserve death, advocating total surrender in war and dismissing humanitarian suffering as propaganda, and past tweets comparing Muslim politicians to extremist leaders.

"So he has more of a threat in the position that he is in than anywhere else," she added, which prompted Ben to ask: "OK, so what is the theological position in Islam on dogs? Are they haram?

Ms Mahomed explained: "No, they’re not haram. There are basically different laws within Muslim communities globally. We have so many different jurisprudential schools of thought.

"And, you know, some view them as prohibiting indoor pets, and others allow them with hygiene conditions. Many Muslims in the West keep dogs, and American Muslims are ethnically diverse.

"So at the end of the day, we can’t reduce a global faith of two billion people to one activist’s tweet. At the end of the day, I’m from South Africa — we have a huge amount of crime.

"It’s quite common for us to have dogs as security, you know, across the world. We don’t see that as anything specifically Muslim or not.

"It’s a personal matter anyway. I think, you know, this was just taken out of proportion and another chance for this particular congressman to go and do his usual dehumanisation of Muslims."