Ricky Gervais and HFPA can't stop talking about Ricky Gervais and the Golden Globes

After something like a week of speculation, the Golden Globes organizers -- and, somewhat, Ricky Gervais himself -- has put down rumors that the British comedian was asked back to host for a third year at the awards ceremony.

Phil Berk, head of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, denies that the group desired for an encore performance.

"There is no truth to this rumor. We have not asked him to come back. Nice try, Ricky," Berk said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter.

The rumor was fueled by a piece that's running in Heat Magazine (lower right hand corner): Gervais wrote in his "diary" that "the ratings were up again, and the organisers asked me to consider a third year."

"I don't think I should. I don't know what I could do better. I certainly couldn't get more press for them, that's for sure," he continued.

But then on his personal website, he clarified:

You may also have read that I am hosting next year's Golden Globes. This is not true. Not yet anyway.

The TV show organisers said they were happy with everything and asked me to not rule out a third gig. However, it is not entirely up to them. The Hollywood Foreign Press and various other committees need to meet and agree. I have no idea if they want me back again. It depends whether they care about fifty delicate egos in the room or the 200 million people watching at home who want a laugh. Also, even if they did want me back, at the moment I'm pretty sure I shouldn't do it. But I'll tell you this. If they do invite me back and I accept, I'm going to pull exactly the same shit again or even worse.

Once again, everyone has been warned.

So that's what he may have meant when he said "considered" in Heat. And it seems that it was only NBC that was charmed by his presence at the ceremony in January.

"Ricky is horrified that people think that he had said the HFPA had requested him back. He never said this. He said that the show’s organisers, in this case — NBC, called him and said he should not rule out a return for a third time. Ricky at no point mentioned this was the HFPA and called Philip Berk earlier today to explain this to him," a spokesperson said in a statement today.

This all comes after a mini-controversy of Gervais' biting opening bit and one-liners from the show. He went on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" the day after, to defend his brand of Hollywood-hitting comedy. "I didn't do anything wrong," he said. See the video below.

Conclusion: Ricky Gervais should probably stop talking about the Golden Globes. Or not: it could help with ratings, personal and promotional.