Tracy Morgan: Myrna Loy Must Be Spinning in Her Grave

PLEASE NOTE: The following post contains language and words with asterisks in them that might be considered offensive, even if you're not seeing the actual words. Just so you know.


Earlier today I received several emails informing me that several of my Facebook friends wanted me to visit a Facebook page having something to do with Tracy Morgan, who is apparently some kind of entertainer ("Why I No Longer 'Like' Tracy Morgan"). After determining that this wasn't a phishing expedition, I took a look and found a page devoted to a recent "performance" by Mr Morgan at Nashville's Ryman Theater, during which he made some pretty vicious, violent anti-gay-woman-handicapped comments, to wit: "The "30 Rock" star added that "if his son was gay he better come home and talk to him like a man … or he would pull out a knife and stab that little n**ger to death."

Photo credit:
Albert L. Ortega/PR Photos

Apparently Mr Morgan also feels that "born this way" is bullshit and that the gays need to stop whining about being bullied and get out there and just bust some ass. There was more, according Kevin Rogers, author of the Facebook page: "Tracy then said he didn't f*ing care if he pissed off some gays, because if they can take a f*ing dick up their ass... they can take a f*ing joke...I won't even get started on his rant about how women should be home cooking him a f*ing meal and not becoming CEOs or him talking about f*ing the moms of retards."

And there, ladies and gentlemen, you have it: this is what passes for humor these days. Of course, Mr Morgan apologized faster than you can say "Oh, shit, my career!"

 "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," Morgan said in a statement. No, of course not, none of the statements Kevin Rogers quotes on Facebook is hateful at all.

"Choice of words"?! A poor choice of words involves choosing the wrong word(s) in a sentence or two. When you've gone on for ten minutes, dropping the F-bomb every other thing and saying the things this "comedian" said, that's ignorance and anger and hate. Worse, it's probably what he really believes. He can apologize till the end of time, it won't change the fact that Mr Morgan has revealed his true colors, and they don't add up to a rainbow flag.

Meanwhile, if he thinks being gay is such an abomination, why does he recommend we "stop being pussies...whining about being bullied" and get out there to defend ourselves? (To be honest, I almost agree with that one.)

As I said somewhere on Facebook (I still don't know the difference between "posting" and "sharing" and my "page" and my "wall" so what I wrote is probably lost in the ether) I'll be interested to see how this is spun in the media and on TV (especially by NBC -- the company Mr Morgan works for on SNL and "30 Rock" -- when he isn't pulling down upwards of $90 a ticket for his "comedy"). 

Actually, I can imagine the press release: "While we are sorry Mr Morgan made comments during his routine in Nashville that were offensive to members of the gay and lesbian community (oh, and women and "retards" and, oh yeah, his little n**ger son), we also understand that Mr Morgan is a passionate artist who improvises much of his material and can sometimes be swept up in the moment, speaking without thinking. Mr Morgan is a valuable and respected  member of the NBC community, especially the cash cows known as '30 Rock' and 'Saturday Night Live', and we trust that his sincere apology and promise not to do it again will make everyone just shut up and go away.

"In any event Mr Morgan, being African-American, cannot possibly be prejudiced against another group or minority. That's just crazy talk. So Mr Morgan will be welcomed back to NBC with open arms following another apology and a skit on SNL spoofing his ignorant, unfunny performance and his hollow, totally insincere apology. Hugs, NBC"

Remember a while back when Michael Richards, (aka Seinfeld's Kramer) apparently lost his mind on the stage of an LA comedy club and starting a vicious, racist rant at some black people in the audience? It was all you heard about for days, weeks, on TV and in the papers and tabloids. But this is different, I guess. I wonder why. (Although it's probably true, as someone suggested to me, that the ever-escalating Anthony Wiener debacle* is just too much of a behemoth at the moment to be displaced by l'affaire Tracy Morgan.) 

In summation, Mr Morgan just seems to me to be a hateful, angry man, not a homophobe-- a word which, in my opinion, lets people off too easy: phobia means fear and people like Mr Morgan aren't really afraid of us, they just hate us. (I won't get started on what I understand is a real disgust of homosexuality in the African-American community.) 

According to the Facebook page 10 to 15 audience members walked out on Mr Morgan, while the rest (and who knows how many of the Ryman's 1,064 seats were filled that night) stayed on to cheer and applaud and stamp their feet. It's sad and it does make me a little afraid and it has nothing to do with "gay rights" (on which more later) -- it's like making nice with the Taliban: they smile and nod and, recognizing what they see as weakness, they "keel" you!

I wasn't even alive when entertainment like "The Thin Man", starring class acts like William Powell and Myrna Loy was considered the apogee of comedy, but I sure miss those good, old days.

*Only slightly unrelated thought: So many pundits, talk show gasbags and liberal newspeople seem eager to dismiss Rep. Wiener's sordid secret life as just a pecadillo, and suggest that anyone who's offended by such behavior is just a backward, ignorant, knuckle-dragging -- dare I say it -- Christian! I wonder how they'd feel if their spouses pulled the same thing on them. Forgiving and understanding, I'm sure.