Ricky Gervais trashes Hollywood stars at Golden Globes

Ricky Gervais - upsetting the Ricky Gervais left stars seething at Sunday night's Golden Globe Awards after he mocked some of Hollywood's biggest names.

The 49-year-old comic, who was hosting the ceremony, made barbed remarks about Charlie Sheen's drinking habits, Robert Downey Jr's past battles with addiction and Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp's new film The Tourist.

'It's going to be a night of partying and heavy drinking - or as Charlie Sheen calls it, breakfast,' Ricky told the audience as he opened the show.

Introducing Robert on stage he joked: 'Many of you probably know him best from such facilities as the Betty Ford Clinic and LA County Jail.'

Then Ricky took a pop at Angelina and co-star Johnny.

'It seems everything this year was three-dimensional...except the characters in The Tourist,' he sneered.

The actors fired back with Tom Hanks saying: 'We can recall back when Ricky Gervais was a slightly chubby, but very kind comedian...' and Robert calling the atmosphere 'mean-spirited, with mildly sinister undertones'.  And the backlash to Ricky's on-stage antics is fast growing with even Hollywood Foreign Press Association boss Philip Berk saying the host went way too far. 'He definitely crossed the line,' he tells the Hollwood Reporter.

'Some of the things were totally unacceptable.' But producer Harvey Weinstein has made light of the controversy. 'There are seven people that we've hired to kill him and deservedly so,' quips the Nine producer