Nurse suspended after ‘disgusting’ sex comment about kids which he claimed was Ricky Gervais joke

The nurse’s grim comment referred to girls and young women starting menstruation, although he claimed to have taken it from a Ricky Gervais bit, something the comedian denies

A nurse has been suspended after making a sexualised joke referring to children while chatting with a colleague, later admitting he had nicked the gag off comedian Ricky Gervais.

James Murray is believed to have said that “if they can bleed, they can breed”, a comment that sexualises girls and young women who are beginning menstruation, which can begin at as young as 8-years-old.

While the foul-mouthed nurse did admit to saying the line, he claimed that the joke was not his own, and in fact belonged to The Office and Afterlife creator Ricky Gervais.

The tribunal also heard that earlier that same day, Mr Murray had sworn and stuck two fingers up at the charge nurse during a discussion about a staffing decision related to Covid-19 protocols.

Mr Murray said his comment was “misinterpreted” and a “joke”, adding that neither he or his colleague involved in the conversation were “the authors of this”.

”We didn’t make this particular joke up. We were repeating the joke or interpreting the joke”, he told the tribunal.

Several of Mr Murray’s colleagues were believed to have been upset by the creepy line, with one saying she found the conversation “really disgusting”, adding: “You don’t know anybody’s backstory and yeah, for me, it particularly upset me.”

Incredibly, Gervais has commented on his potential involvement on social media X, writing that he has “never said anything like this in a sketch, a screenplay, stand up or privately”.

The tribunal panel wrote that Mr Murray, a nurse at St Andrews Community Hospital in Fife, Scotland, was accused of engaging in a “highly inappropriate and unprofessional conversation of a sexual nature involving children” with a colleague on July 22 2022.

The panel concluded that Mr Murray’s conduct “demonstrated a serious lack of judgment”, suspending him for a total of six months.

“After considering all the evidence, the panel was not satisfied that it supported the contention that the exchange was confined to a simple retelling of a joke.”

“Whether the words were original to you or repeated from a joke was not determinative of the factual issue it was required to decide. The panel found that you did say those words and chose to engage with the conversation.”

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