Tag: Tracy Morgan

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Joan Rivers on the Tracy Morgan anti-gay rant

Legendary comic Joan Rivers spoke to The Daily Beat regarding Tracy Morgan’s anti-gay rant earlier this week: “He’s not a Mensa comic. He’s not the voice of this generation.”

Rivers has been where Morgan is standing before, having famously made a career of being an equal opportunity offender.

“At the very start of my act, I say, ‘Calm down. We’re gonna get everybody.  My act, when you really listen to it out of context is so offensive, I would sue myself after every show,” she said.

“I’m shocked that we aren’t upset that he said ‘I’ll stab that little nigger,’ that to me is offensive,” she said.

It’s still not offensive enough to get him fired, thus far. NBC Entertainment’s new Chairman, Bob Greenblatt, issued a statement that said, in part, “we do not condone hate or violence of any kind and I am pleased to see Tracy Morgan apologizing for recent homophobic remarks in his standup appearance.” It also said: “…we have made it clear to him that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.”

No, Morgan is not out of work. But he is on an apology tour, working with GLAAD and plans on going back to the scene of the crime to make amends. All of which Rivers says is pure hooey.

“He shouldn’t apologize. Gay fans? What are they doing seeing him anyhow? Why aren’t they watching me and Kathy Griffin? What are they doing at this show?”

“I’ll tell you, the biggest crime of all,” said Rivers, “is that Tracy Morgan isn’t funny. You know what he should be apologizing for? For charging $86 to see him.”

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More audience members speak about Tracy Morgan rant

It’s hard to imagine sitting in the audience while comedian Tracy Morgan unloaded a string of antigay comments from stage. But Cynthia Wagner and Katie Cleek don’t have to imagine. They were there. And the couple can’t stop reliving those tense moments. Part of them feels relieved to have made it out of the auditorium safely.

Without video of the tirade, it’s all the more difficult to understand what it must have been like to be a lesbian couple, cuddled closely in the pew-style seating of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, caught with Wagner’s arm around Cleek when Morgan suddenly said over the microphone that there’s no such thing as women loving women. Witnesses say Morgan claimed all lesbians have “daddy issues” and just hate men.

“I wanted so badly to get up and leave but then the fear had me locked in those seats,” Wagner said. “There was no joke. Everyone was waiting with baited breath for the punch line.”

They waited as Morgan said gays should “quit being pussies” when it comes to bullying. They waited through him saying he would stab his son to death if he were gay. They waited for the punch line that should drain the tension out of the moment. But it never came, they say. Instead, much of the audience reacted with hoots and cheers to what sounded to the couple like a speech – a hate speech.

“People were more vocal upstairs but they were not around us,” Wagner said of the crowd’s reaction. “There was a kind of silence in our area because I think they knew.”

The worst part was feeling like the only two gay people, suddenly caught at an event where they weren’t welcome. It must have been like turning down an alley that you realize too late might be dangerous.

When the show was over, “we waited until almost everybody left,” Cleek said. And then they darted to the car. “We didn’t even hold hands as we walked out, and normally we do. We didn’t know what to expect at that point. Is someone going to say or do something to us now? And I’ve never felt like that – ever.”

Read more at Advocate.com

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Kevin Rogers – who broke Tracy Morgan story – on CNN

Kevin Rogers, a Nashville photographer, who attended Tracy Morgan’s show last night and heard Morgan’s anti-gay rant in person, appeared on CNN today to talk about the experience.

Kevin basically broke the story on Facebook by posting details of the evening’s performance.

He reveals in the interview that he called his mother to come out to her before he appeared on CNN. Imagine deciding to come out to your mom because you need to go on CNN in order to make a difference for your community.

The good news is his mother was very supportive of him and his public stance about the show he saw last night.

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Tracy Morgan – now what?

So now that Tracy Morgan’s people have issued an apology, what now?

UPDATE via GLAAD: NBC Chairman Bob Greenblatt and 30 Rock creator Tina Fey have released statements expressing their condemnation of his words, and assurances that NBC is taking this seriously.

Writes Bob Greenblatt:
I speak for NBC and myself personally when I say we do not condone hate or violence of any kind and I am pleased to see Tracy Morgan apologizing for recent homophobic remarks in his standup appearance. We will always recognize an artist’s freedom to express him or herself, but not when reckless things are said no matter what the context. Unfortunately, Tracy’s comments reflect negatively on both “30 Rock” and NBC – two very all-inclusive and diverse organizations – and we have made it clear to him that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.

Tina Fey’s statement is undeniably written in her own, distinct voice:
I’m glad to hear that Tracy apologized for his comments. Stand-up comics may have the right to “work out” their material in its ugliest and rawest form in front of an audience, but the violent imagery of Tracy’s rant was disturbing to me at a time when homophobic hate crimes continue to be a life-threatening issue for the GLBT Community.

It also doesn’t line up with the Tracy Morgan I know, who is not a hateful man and is generally much too sleepy and self-centered to ever hurt another person.
I hope for his sake that Tracy’s apology will be accepted as sincere by his gay and lesbian coworkers at “30 Rock”, without whom Tracy would not have lines to say, clothes to wear, sets to stand on, scene partners to act with, or a printed-out paycheck from accounting to put in his pocket.

The other producers and I pride ourselves on “30 Rock” being a diverse, safe, and fair workplace.

In case you’re catching up, audience member Kevin Rogers reported that a lengthy homophobic rant was part of actor/comedian Tracy Morgan’s routine during a performance last week at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. You can read Rogers’s account of the incident all over the internet – but the most disturbing was Morgan’s statement that “if his son that was gay he better come home and talk to him like a man and not [he mimicked a gay, high pitched voice] or he would pull out a knife and stab that little N (one word I refuse to use) to death.”

Morgan’s management issued this statement this morning:
“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.”

So that’s where things are now. Morgan’s right to admit that violence against LGBT young people is not funny in any context. Now he needs to understand why.

That’s why GLAAD has offered to arrange a meeting between Morgan and a family whose LGBT son or daughter has been the victim of severe violence because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. GLAAD has also offered to arrange a meeting between Morgan and LGBT young people who have been hurt by parental rejection.

Tracy Morgan now has the opportunity to meet people who have been impacted by LGBT violence face-to-face, to hear their stories, and to understand exactly why his rant touched so deep a nerve.

Read more at GLAADblog.org