It seems like just this morning that “30 Rock” star Tracy Morgan was being condemned for his “jokes” about how homosexuals choose to be gay and how he’d stab his son to death if he talked like a queer. Probably because it was this morning. But I’m happy to report that Morgan’s PR team sounded general quarters and the damage control team is working to salvage the USS Tracy Jordan.
Tracy Morgan issued a statement to The Huffington Post through his representative: “I want to apologize to my fans and the gay & lesbian community for my choice of words at my recent stand-up act in Nashville. I’m not a hateful person and don’t condone any kind of violence against others. While I am an equal opportunity jokester, and my friends know what is in my heart, even in a comedy club this clearly went too far and was not funny in any context.”
Ah, there we go. All better now. Back to the status quo.
Not to get all long-winded about this, but this reminds me of the discussion that Vince and I had on the FilmDrunk Frotcast a few weeks ago about Lars von Trier’s comments in Cannes about sympathizing with Hitler. Vince’s take is that von Trier’s a crazy Danish director who makes weird and sometimes offensive films, so you can’t really be shocked by the inevitable Nazi sympathy. I can’t say I agree fully, but I understand his point.
The same thing goes with Tracy Morgan. I don’t agree with what he said, but he’s built his career on being an insane person speaking without a filter. He gets laughs and applause and demands that he say more crazy things, and then when the topic come to gays, he says crazy things and people freak out. I don’t excuse anything Morgan said, but I’m not exactly surprised that he said it.
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what a faggot
I have made with this bunch of sticks!
I tried reading that statement in Tracy morgans voice but it just doesn’t feel right, not even in his crying voice
When you are constantly egged on to do progressively dumber shit, eventually you are going to splatter yourself. This guy is the equivalent to a court jester.
Please, Tina Fey, bring back Donald Glover as the gay student from Tracy’s old high school who teaches him a valuable lesson about friendship and tolerance.
Holy crap… Matt condones Vince’s Nazi sympathy??
“Last night I had dinner with Don Imus and he told the following story…”
I really want to believe that he’s sorry and not horribly homophobic, but I’m not sure if this is one of those situations where saying you’re sorry is enough.
We’ll see how it goes, I guess.
There are two definitions for sorry – he is ONE of them.
While we’re at it let’s demand Ricky Gervais apologize to Christians, Daniel Tosh to women (and really everyone), and so on.
I will only accept this apology as a public forum where he apologizes to each and every gay person. I’M SORRY. [www.youtube.com]
Hm. What a queer way of apologizing. Do you think he will also bake fudge packed brownies to give to GLAAD? If mine falls on the carpet, I’d gladly munch it from there.
Tracy Morgan: the living, breathing “my-Twitter-was-hacked”.
Adding “I’M BRIAN FELLOWS!”
Boring. Another person who says something stupid and then insists they’re not ‘that’ kind of person, even though saying what you said kind of means that you ARE ‘that’ kind of person. On the other hand, maybe people need to stop being so sensitive. Some people don’t like The Gays. Oh well. Not everyone thinks the way we want them to, and everyone’s got SOMEONE they hate, whether they have the guts (or stupidity) to say it publicly or not. Get over it.
It sounds like basic shock comedy escalation to me. I’ve heard plenty of comics say just as bad about gays and other groups.
He’s not crazy, he’s straight up mentally ill!
My greater point in the Lars von Trier thing was that it bugged me that it was impossible for people to imagine someone sympathizing with Hitler. Saying you sympathize with a racist murderer doesn’t imply in and of itself that you sympathize with the racism and murdering parts. To act like it’s impossible to have SOMETHING in common with someone who’s a terrible person without YOU being a terrible person is just incredibly intellectually lazy, in my opinion.
That said, Tracy Morgan is on his own. If there’s a way to read that statement to not imply an insane level of homophobia, i don’t know what it is.
I don’t know. Apologies like this just seem kinda gay.
Do you have a tag for THE STRAIGHTS?
I think the rant was for his immediate audience (sounds like it worked at the time) and the apology was for his marketing/ PR people (movie deals mister!). R.I.P. Lenny Bruce.
P.S. fanastic banner photo.
i used to like Tracey Morgan, but this is seriously not on in anyway what so ever. Especially in the world we live in he should know better, I am not gay but I still found this very very offensive. So die in a fire tracey. http://www.dailystooge.com
From Ric The Real Stooge