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Tracy Morgan Comes Under Fire For Anti-Gay Rant
NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt, the first openly gay topper of a broadcast network, and 30 Rock creator/executive producer/star Tina Fey just issued statements in response to homophobic remarks by 30 Rock co-star Tracy Morgan at his stand-up show in Nashville last Saturday. The rant, in which Morgan said, among other things that “if his son told him that was gay he … would pull out a knife and stab that little n***** to death,” has created a media firestorm, with gay-rights groups demanding an apology. Morgan issued one earlier today. Greenblatt’s statement indicates that reps for the network have spoken with the actor and “we made it clear to him that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated”, so Morgan will continue on 30 Rock:
Bob Greenblatt, Chairman NBC Entertainment:
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, Executive Producer, 30 Rock
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.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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Tracy’s comments reflect totally what most of the black community feels. I’m black so I can say this. Most black people hate gays. It’s just fact.
You’re too funny.
You know that’s incorrect. Black people disagreeing with someone’s choice of lifestyle does not mean they HATE someone.
So then I’m allowed to disagree with people who choose to be black, and it doesn’t mean I hate them? Cool!
Sure, but using the expression “choice of lifestyle” is pretty homophobic by itself. Might not be hatred, but it’s definitely an oppressive kind of attitude to take.
@lalalala Oh GAWD. Yes it does. You just defined it dolt. “choice of lifestyle”. It’s not a choice and it’s not a lifestyle it’s just who people are. Nobody chooses to be straight or Gay. Get with it already.
Here’s what I don’t get. I understand it’s not a lifestyle or a choice…I’ve had multiple gay roommates over the years despite being straight myself. It simple is a different orientation, no better, no worse. However, if you want equality you have to be able to take the bad with the good.
If a comedian makes a generalization about Irish bein all drunks or Hispanics as lazy…I don’t get bent. If someone makes jokes about gays and you want equality, we smile…if you dont want to hear it, well its a fair country, walk.
Now the violent imagery set apart from the gay issue…and I can do this because people have started to throw around the “well what if he would have been talking about blacks, etc.” proposition…this is the disturbing part. And he should apologize for this. He doesn’t have to but if he wants to have fans and a career he should. He has and we should move on unless this continues as an issue.
The false idea that you can change people to your belief system or we should punish every verbal transgression like it was a literal one, is just that false. We look back at people who use to duel for verbal transgressions as historic fools now but how different is this. People are flawed and we all have to get along and work with people we neither like or agree with. Attempting to bully people we don’t like rather bringing their faults to light so that they may see them and grow is a weakness and intolerance on our own part. Their failure then becomes our failure.
Just my two cents.
Your “two cents” are overvalued.
“Most black people hate gays. that’s just a fact.” you’re an idiot. NOW that’s a fact.
Tina Fey, you suck. You condone what Morgan said. I will never watch your show again, or any show you are on. This called for a much stronger statement. You are the big loser in this, since I already knew Tracy Morgan was scum. Now I know that you are too. Shame on you, Tina!
As for Greenblatt – he’s now the Uncle Tom of Gayness.
Boycotting NBC.
Sorry, that’s not good enough.
Tracy Morgan’s hate-filled homophobic murderous rant cannot be condoned. He should be fired by NBC Universal and 30 Rock immediately. What he did is far worse than anything Charlie Sheen did, and Two and a Half Men makes way more money than 30 Rock, so I would think Morgan can easily be replaced. Can you imagine if Neil Patrick Harris made the same kind of comments about black people? Me either.
Tell these people to stop enabling hate speech!
Write to NBC:
RebeccaMarks@nbcuni.com
Kathy.Kelly-Brown@nbcuni.com
Contact Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, stars & producers of 30 Rock
on Twitter
@AlecBaldwin
@NotTinaFey
#FireTracyMorgan
Tina Fey is on Facebook as Elizabeth Tina Fey
You’re totally right.
Tina Fey doesn’t have a Twitter account.
Not nearly good enough, Morgan must be fired.
I encourage everyone to email GE and Snapple for starters. Tell them you will boycott their products until Morgan is fired. Also the SyFy channel, which hosts Scare Tactics.
But I love Snapple.
Since GE doesn’t own NBC anymore, boycotting them may not be that effective.
NBC might consider buying out his contract and sending him on his way…would be cheaper than losing viewers by keeping such a hateful individual on their show
Tracy’s “apology” makes him no less homophobic than Gibson’s “apology” made him less antisemitic: “You got a dog in this race?” However, I feel like Tina’s unequivocal statement hit the right tone by both castigating him and holding him accountable to the people they work with every day. Her past words and actions should have earned her some street cred with the GLBT community, so I hope she’s not blamed for failing to instantly go nuclear on both Tracy and unavoidably, by extension, the show she’s worked so hard to build.
Love 30 Rock but Tracy Morgan (and his storylines) has always been difficult for me to watch. Especially this last season. Not sure I can watch it now but time will tell.
I can take a dick. I can take a joke. But in reading Mr. Morgan’s joke/rant, I couldnt find the joke. Or the intended joke. ‘that’s what comics do’ doesn’t seem to fly in this case. Right, Joy?
Weak.
What’s really disturbing about this incident to me, is that the least believable aspect of it is almost certainly what pushed it into being a national story we’re talking about here.
Does anyone really believe that Morgan would stab his own son to death for being gay? Of course not. So if he had changed it to “slap the black off him” or something like that, then we likely aren’t even talking about it today.
But would that small a change have really made it a performance that should be acceptable in 2011 by a mainstream comedy star? No, not in the least. Yet it almost certainly would have slipped under the national radar anyway.
How many more homophobic rants by “mainstream stars” are doing so?
I can tell you that if my father made a “joke” like this and I was still an in-the-closet teen, I’d be pretty fucking disturbed. We rational adults might see the exaggeration in Tracy’s “joke” but imagine hearing these words as a scared and isolated young person.
I hope, for Tracy’s sake, all three of his sons are very secure in their sexuality. Otherwise, he has caused some permanent scars.
Why is this such a big deal? Isn’t Tracy Morgan entitled to a few homophobic slurs since he is a minority himself?
one would have thought being a minority would have made one more sensitive to cruel and hateful remarks yet i guess Morgan proved that one wrong…guess a pass is in order, huh?
Ah, I learn something new every day. So are black people allowed 10 homophobic slurs? And I guess Latinos get maybe 8, and Asians get, let’s say 6? But white people probably only get 2 or three? Are they like “Get Out Of Jail Free” cards? I don’t remember them being passed out, but maybe I was absent that day.
Well stated ‘Stating the Obvious.’
So, let me get this right- the first amendment guarentees freedom of speech, and artists freedom, unless you say something one group doesn’t like, then you must get censored, and will be fired unless you apologize. Shameful.
For the record: you technically still have the right to be stupid and say stupid things.
By your own logic, if TM has the freedom of speech to make inflammatory and hateful comments, then other people have the freedom of speech to tell him he’s being a complete a$$hole. Which they have. Good for them, and shame on you.
very true one does have the right to be stupid and say stupid things according to First Amendment right…one does not have to continue supporting programs that feature such individuals so i guess the market will determine what happens to Mr. Morgan…nothing shameful in that, is there?
Your right, the market will determine what happens. To the big corporate stations “any press is good press”. This means just MORE people watching the show to see what Morgan will do next, seeing as he wasn’t fired. People for the most part are like sheep, they like to herd together and follow the group. Your going to get the odd crybaby calling for him to be fired but in the end he just generated a buzz that brought in more viewers, not lost them.
For the record: what the homophobic hyperbigot said was far worse than stupid and he revealed himself to be far beyond stupid. It and he were hateful, defamatory and murderous. Worst of all, he told us off and told us exactly what he really thought. So the spin machine is once again geared up to a predictable, routine, high pitched, chattering whine. From the showrunners, that the show must go on no matter what, but they must and therefore will be clever about it; a gag, a one-liner or two will distract, pacify the “fans” and make it all go away. That’s their business. They are very good at it and my hat’s off to them. The many “interested,” mostly anonymous comments here, the more anonymous the nastier, sillier and gutless, many from people you work with every day. They may say the same nasty things about you behind your back, or here for that matter: “for the record” but “unsourced.” Trust no one and always cover your sweet behind (or just be a hard ass when “required”), since self-serving betrayal is the coin of the realm. Fear and Loathing always just under the surface and ready to be strip mined. The Day of the Locust seemingly always just around the corner, especially after a “burn the town down” performance like this, but not quite here, not yet; still the show must go on unless the showrunner is personally attacked. Have you read the book, seen the movie, know how they end? Stay tuned: we shall see, won’t we?:)
@Adrian140 – Yours is a stupid mistake that a lot of idiots make, so don’t feel bad. The First Amendment grants you the right to free speech, not the right to star in a TV show.
god I hate when people misapply the First Amendment.
YES we have freedom to say whatever we want in America (except for threats — which this WAS.)
This isn’t the GOVERNMENT cracking down on free speech (which is all the First Amendment applies to.)
This is CONSUMERS of a product (30 Rock/NBC) saying “I don’t want to buy this product any more, based on the hate being spewed by one of it’s actors, and the laissez-faire/’he makes us too much money to fire him’ attitude of his bosses. What are you gonna do about it?”
what if his son IS gay? He just might be, folks. can you imagine how he feels? He would rightly be terrified for his life.
As you so proved by your post.
In other words, the gay guy who runs the network and the allegedly gay friendly creator and star of the show are giving Tracey Morgan a pass for stepping on stage and “joking” about stabbing gay children. Bet if he’d said the same thing about Jews, he’d have been fired within five minutes after he got off that stage. Just another example of showbiz liberals talking out of both sides of their asses. When push comes to shove, they stick together and bury their heads so they can keep on cashing those paychecks. Disgusting.
Oh please, don’t make this a liberal/conservative issue. Because it’s not. Take that shit over to some political website instead.
Really because I don’t remember any similar outrage when Christopher Titus said he wanted kill Sarah Palin or when Wanda Sykes wished Rush Limbaugh woulkd die of kidney failure while the President of th eUnited States was sitting next to her. See if the hate is directed at a conservative it is funny.
I find it funny that people think Fey and Bob owed anyone an apology. As a gay man myself I think Fey’s STATEMENT is brilliant and spot on. Next time any of you make a racist, homophobic, or anti-semetic joke please send an apology accordingly to their most notorious public groups otherwise you are a hypocrite.
PS. Who makes the most offensive gay jokes – gay people. Spend one night at The Abbey or in WeHo and see the way our community treats each other. Until we get beyond ourselves in our own community our equality will always lay dormant.
I am a gay man who seconds Michael’s post.
OIC so you sitting around with your friends, drinking apple-tinis drunk off your a$$ joking about Gays and Gaydom and Gay Pride and Gay clothes is the same as a national network TV star publicly saying to a crowd in Tennessee that he would stab his son to death if he told him he was Gay. Seriously get your head out of your tuckus. And BTW stop self-hating the next night your out with your friends. You’ll feel better in the morning.
Oh, please. Fuck off, Tina.
If you say you’re “boycotting”, you’re already an exiled audience member so no one will want to cater to your wishes.
Wow…I’m sure Isaiah Washington is pissed off right now! Didn’t he get canned for calling someone a f*gg*t? I’m pretty sure Morgan’s contract has a decency clause preventing him from harming the rep of the network, production company and show. Why don’t they write in a gay lover for his character…
Agreed. His character actually annoys me the most and is the most irritating to watch. I wouldn’t miss him…
I’m done with 30 Rock! this kind of intolerance can not be tolerated no matter if other GLBT are employed by 30 Rock and forced to swallow pride because he draws the big bucks. I will tune in again when Morgan is turned out. Do the right thing NBC.
OF COURSE gay people should not be stabbed! However, a-holes who stick their pompous noses up in the air and say crap like “Nobody buys DVDs anymore” SHOULD be.
The hypersensitive Poopusher Community sure doesn’t need much of an excuse to start swinging the purses, does it?
You attend a foul-mouthed comic’s act, you roll with it, so STFU.
Wow. Why is this post even allowed on here?
My God, that was a nasty comment Ick… wow.
You realise that (just in term of pure numbers) most of the people who are offended/upset by Morgan’s comments are straight right? You don’t have to be gay to think what Morgan said (which, judging from the available excepts, didn’t seem to be a comedy routine as much as a rant) isn’t OK in this day and age, especially considering his position at 30 Rock.
Hi Tracy.
Funny how all the press focuses on Fey and Greenblatt, but little is said about Baldwin’s tweet – “Oh that Tracy.”
little inside story about TM to let you know what kind of human being he is. couple of years back, my ex-wife used to work at a swanky bar in LA and TM was the most despised celeb who the staff ever had to tolerate. he treated everyone (especially minorities) like trash, crossed the line with all the female servers, and never ever tipped (usually walked out on his tab, getting the server in trouble). seriously, the guy is a complete chucklehead and his recent comments come as no surprise. no amount of funny balances his amount of suck.
Imagine if Tracy Morgan was a white republican. How different would those fluffy statements be? How many calls would there be for him to be fired? We all know the answer. What the man said was despicable but the hypocritical, liberal hollywood elite will give him a bit of a pass because of the color of his skin. Sad but true. What he said was far worse than anything Michael Richards said. Fire him.!
And yet, there are some very fired up liberals here that are upset about it and are calling for him to be fired, while there are some conservatives who claim it’s his right to say what he wanted due to free speech.
Read Hollywoods reactions to Mel Gibson’s statements and then try to find anything close in the case of Tracy Morgan.