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UPDATE: Mark Gordon Apologizes To PGA
Producer Mark Gordon Uses N-Word Twice At TV Table Read: Lifetime Notifies ABC Studios “This Needs To Be Dealt With”
EXCLUSIVE 2ND UPDATE: I’ve now learned that, after Lifetime HR reported Mark Gordon to ABC Studios HR, the producer was “admonished aggressively” by ABC Studios EVP Howard Davine, who oversees Business Affairs and Administration for Disney’s TV production studio. I’m told that Davine called up Gordon the day after the producer used the N-word twice at a pilot table read and told him, “We need you to understand this is a completely inappropriate thing you’ve done. We know you’ve never had any experiences like this before. But we will be watching you.”
No other action was taken by ABC Studios.
Meanwhile, I’ve also learned that Shonda Rhimes, Gordon’s African-American co-executive producer on Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice, learned about the test read incident because of Deadline Hollywood’s report. A source close to her told me today, “She thinks he’s an idiot. She thinks what he did is terrible, stupid, and embarrassing. But she doesn’t think he’s a racist.”
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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We all knew Gordon would get his hand slapped and that’s what happened. He’s too big a player for anything further to occur. Can we please now get back to the trials & tribulations of our Jet Blue hero Steven Slater?
Human Resources on the prowl. They gotta justify their departments somehow when not filing resumes. Didn’t he apologize already?
Racist or not i dont know what posessed this man too say what he did. I wasent there, but the one big probleem you bhave with anyone in higher authority such as this man, is that ounce they comfortable, in the job there doing and a certain number of years fly bye is, they really let the job go too there heads. they are highly payed, walk around with the same piece of paper for 8 hours a day and do nothing. and get away with everything. no one is overseeing this one.yes he should be showed his walking paqpers. you just dont do or say these things in publiic.. if this a professional, i dont see it. now if this were for instance a little minimum wage secutary, saying theN- WORD/. YES SHE WOULD BE IMME4DIATELY TERMINATEED. OR A JANITOR/ MAKES NO SENSeFIRE this guy be done with it/
Everyone get over yourself with all your damn sensitivities. Why don’t we just blow this up into a major incident. Yeah, let’s fire someone. Yeah, make sure he never works again. There is more dirty business done in this town with a smile behind closed doors where peoples careers are decimated in an oh so polite manner. Guess it’s ok to hire people based on race, age and gender. Our business has no problem with that I am sick of it. If black folks use the infamous “n” word than anyone else can too. You know what, if you disagree with what I have said you can go fuck yourself.
Have a nice day
Okay fine. So, maybe the guy made a mistake. Let’s say for argument sake that he isn’t racist, that he’s just an insensitive idiot. He’s still getting what he deserves. This guy is a misogynistic tool who throws the F-word around in front of women as if it gave him some sort of street cred. Say what you may, karma is a bitch and he’s getting his just deserts for being such an a-hole.
Nice to see ABC Studios is assuring us that Gordon was “admonished aggressively” and that now Howard will be watching him…just like they watched McPherson all those years? It’s also a bonus to imagine Howard camouflaged in the bushes just off set.
I am still curious as to why he felt comfortable using the “N” word with those in attendance. Did he actually think that those people agreed with him? How ignorant and arrogant !
Whew! Thank God. An African-American woman doesn’t think he’s racist. I feel so much better now. My God, could you imagine what would have happened if no black person vouched for his character? But he’s good now, all is well. Nothing to worry about, HR gave him a good talking to. And you know what they say about those talking to’s right? They scare the hell out of EP’s.
Just another obnoxious, entitled and ignorant producer. He throws his weight around and doesn’t give a shit about people.
So Gordon reenacted a scene from BLAZING SADDLES and is called a racist.
Does that means Mel Brooks– the original author of the language — is a racist?
Is the African-American actor in the movie who used the N-word a racist too?
How can Gordon be racist and they aren’t?
What about people who laughed at the scene when watching the movie? Racists too? All of them?
Gordon didn’t call a black person the N-word in a moment of racially-motivated anger — he repeated language in a comic context from a highly-regarded movie.
Is Tarantino a racist when his characters use the n-word?
Is Chris Rock?
Does this mean that anyone who recites Sam Jackson’s dialogue from PULP FICTION will be called a racist?
The left-wing PC thought control has become so pervasive that society can no longer differentiate between truly racist language that deserves to be condemned and — for eg — a producer reciting a comic riff from a well-regarded movie where a black actor himself used the N-word…
At worst, what Gordon did was clumsy. But racist? And deserving of “aggressive admonishment?” Give me a break…
I agree with PC Gone Crazy. Just because you say t/word doesn’t mean you’re a racist. It just means this man likes movies, remembers lines in movies and repeats those lines. We weren’t in the room, we don’t know what went down. And for Black people to act all proper about the “word” that they themselves say in private….come on, we know black people call each other N88ggers and don’t criticize each other for it.
He didn’t reenact the scene, he put someone in a headlock, screamed “I’m going to kill you n******,” and later claimed that it was an homage to the movie.
“How can Gordon be racist and they (Mel Brooks/Cleavon Little/Chris Rock/Tarantino et al) aren’t?”
Because “they” use the N word in the context of art, satire and comedy.
Mark Gordon used the N word during a business meeting.
Y’all just don’t get it… Sometimes it’s NOT who says it! White people(Men) are the only people I ever hear whining for the right to use the “N” word! Why is that? If you’ve talked to enough black people in your life, and I mean from different walks of life and not just Hollywood “fitinskies”, your questions would’ve been answered a long time ago! Stop looking for reasons to be racist! I make love to my wife as often as I can but if you even TRY to… Face it people, that’s a double standard that you’ll have to deal with! LOL!
I didn’t know a table reading was considered a business meeting, and wasn’t the table read for a comedy? if so, good lord have mercy, quote some classic brooks, might stir things up and make stuff funny again
Are classy directors and actors willing to work with someone who has done this?
Yes
Yup.
It’s all about the Benjamins. Hollywood is filled with just as much racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. as anywhere else. Money is what matters. Mel Gibson can be as big an ass as he wants but he makes coin. So, there will always be some studio head who will ignore his misdeeds because there’s more money to be made.
Why pretend otherwise? Money drives this world.
As for Gordon, maybe the guy isn’t racist, he’s still an entitled tool who was clueless enough to think it appropriate to act like a fool.
This stuff about Blazing Saddles is just an attempt to justify his behavior. According to reports, he never prefaced his words by saying he was acting out a seen from the movie. This all came afterward as a way to minimize his actions.
Isiah Washington says a gay slur and gets fired. Mark Gordon says a racists slur and gets “aggressively admonished”. So when it comes to ABC, gay bashing is bad but racism is okay. Or is it that white middle-aged rich men are accepted and black men are not? ABC should now stand for Another Bigoted Company.
I think you’re forgetting one very important difference. Isaiah directed the slur at a gay man. Mark used it quoting someone else. I guarantee you if he had dropped the n bomb on Gabriella he’d be gone.
Oh, its also much, much easier to wrie out an actor than get rid of a seasoned showrunner on multiple hit series. So I guess you forgot two things.
Mark Gordon is not a showrunner. He’s a non-writing producer. A salesman.
Excellent nothing else to say but excellent.
As a black writer who has dealt with real racism in his life, I read stories like this and just laugh at all the silly comments.
He’s a fucking moron. Really. That is what it boils down to. He’s just an idiot like Shonda says. He is far from a racist. Mel Gibson? Racist. Mark Gordon? Idiot.
See the difference? I honestly have better things to do than to read countless “news” updates about an idiot like Gordon.
Right said Ted!
well said Ted
Agreed
I commend ABC for showing restraint in this situation. Bottom line, these things need to be judged on a case-by-case basis. Being overly sensitive won’t go us anywhere as a people.
ABC is so messed up. Isiah loses his job, Gordon keeps his. ABC’s the racist.
Calm down. Isiah directed his comment at another person. Gordon, said a word in context, not directed at anyone. There is clearly a difference.
Mark’s no more racist than me or you or any American. It’s like smog and we’ve breathed it all our lives. Not surprising if there’s a few spots on the x-ray.
But the thing that seems overlooked is that apparently he was — foolishly — quoting Blazing Saddles, a movie that tried in its own very strange way to appropriate inherent American racism for humor.
That the movie reference was almost forty years old, and from a far far different time, and highly likely to be misunderstood today if even slightly recognized, seems not to have occurred to Mark (oops) and seems not to be noticed by today’s outraged folks and those who profit from endlessly reporting on his remark. (I don’t mean DHD, obviously, as you reported it and included the clip.)
Nobody is racist until somebody different moves next door/transfers to their department/is roommates with their son or dating their daughter. Imagine your name is Tom and every where you go, every day of your life someone always manages, consciously or otherwise, to avail themselves of the opportunity to marginalize whatever people named Tom think has value or significance. That’s a small part of what it’s like to be “outside the norm” in this country. You think I have the energy to think about race every day? I barely have enough strength to play Xbox but what so many people refuse to see is that I don’t have the luxury to pretend my skin color doesn’t affect how others perceive me. Try sparing us about how other people’s “obsessing” about race is inconveniencing you.
I just want to know what kind of idiot stands up in the middle of a table read to reenact a scene from an old movie. He should be slapped around a few times just for being a jerkoff.
Jesse Jackson and the NAACP posse arriving in 3…..2…..1….
Roger, this site is to read about the film business, not a place to solicit new KKK members. Stick a sock in it and go clean your sheet. It’s dirty like your mind and attitude.
Oh, No! He was “admonished aggressively” Shock! Horror! Who could show his face again after that!?!
Mark Gordon is not a racist. I know him extremely well, both personally and professionally. He is creative, smart, sensitive and loyal. He has dedicated himself tirelessly to creating great shows and memorable movies for many years, and is one of the most open and tolerant people working in Hollywood today. He made a mistake. We all do. But he’s acknowledged it, apologized, and learned something. Let’s forgive him and move on.
PC GONE CRAZY makes a totally fair point.
As much fun as it is to take down a big producer…anyone who knows Mark knows he’s not a racist. DUH.
The guy was doing a brilliantly hilarious scene from “Blazing Saddles” that skewers the “n-word” and probably thought that the actors and writers around the table were actually sophisticated enough to get the joke. I’m not saying that it was a bright idea, it was a stupid freaking idea, especially since he probably did it poorly..but SERIOUSLY.
This guy shouldn’t be in such a position of power. In this economy for this highly paid executive to act in such a racist, insensitive manner is beyond outrageous. I’m sure some out of work executive would take his job in a minute. This is insane. For those saying black people use the n word…hold on. Only some people use that word and the type of people who use it are idiots and ignorant fools. They don’t represent the whole. That is like saying some gays use the word faggot…does that make it right? Some non gays use the word fag…it doesn’t make it acceptable.
People, what Gordon did was dumb. Only minorities are allowed to make fun of minorities in Hollywood. Mark should know this. Of course there’s a double standard, and of course it does more to perpetuate racial sensitivities and issues than it does to stymie them. But this is Hollywood, and fair play is a bastard step child.
Cracker (oh, how thee is so appropriately named !!!) your comment reeks of white privilege. Only a person who has never been on the receiving end of the most devastating racial epithet in modern history would sound a clarion call of complaint that “only minorities” get to use that certain word.
Everyone knows the reason why rappers or other homeboys in the hood drop the N-word so cavalierly has everything to do with taking a word “the man” has used to castigate, belittle and impugn African Americans and taking ownership of it in a way the original epithet hurlers never imagined or conceived.
It’s similar with the C-word for women. I was on a train in London the other day and women were lambasting a third woman, who was not present, by calling her a certifiable C-word over and over. It surprised me. But they, of course, could say the word blissfully in a way that would get a man who said it clubbed in the face with a knuckle sandwich. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.
So instead of crying on high to the cerulean clouds and asking God why, just accept this: The white man has enough privilege(s) out there, being able to bestride the world like a nonchalant colossus, that having the tongue checked when it comes to the N-word is tantamount to a mere trifle.
P.S.
And for those who think the flurry of N-bombs by uber-producer Mark Gordon was a trifle, imagine your reaction if an uber black producer of note, say, Shonda Rhimes…. broke out in a table read saying
“Kike, Kike, Kike” and then tried to explain herself by saying she was riffing off “Blazing Saddles.”
I’m sorry. But my Jewish friends at the Anti Defamation League, among others, would call for her head — and rightfully so.
Here, here!
I’m an Indian woman and a writer. And I agree with Bob. But oy, what a pretentious rant.