"...the other is Tim Allen" might've been my favorite line. after all the accolades he dished on Hanks, you knew it was coming, but he still nailed the delivery and the timing.
honestly, nothing he said was truly "offensive". he implied robert downey jr had a drug problem; robert downey jr did have a drug problem. he implied the head of HFPA was old; the head of HFPA is old. he implied that tom hanks was awesome and tim allen sucked; tom hanks is awesome and tim allen does suck. he implied 'certain scientologists' were closet queens, and ive read that same sentiment about a million times somewhere on this board.
the only defense i can give towards the outrage is that people weren't expecting to be roasted, and got blasted in the face. i still think that's a weak argument, because ricky gervais does nothing but roast people, all the time. that's his shtick. he has completely mastered the ability to insult someone to their face, then give a little "no, im just playin wink wink" but leave you feeling like he's actually thinking "no, im just joking about just playin, i really do think you suck" ...its a difficult premise to pull off, but he nails it.