Tracy Morgan's Michael Richards moment

[Puppycow]

This statement by Tina Fey reminded me of what Seinfeld said about Michael Richards after his hate rant:

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.

I wonder what possessed Morgan to say the things he said, especially given the people he works with.

(Here's what he said. I won't quote it because it would mess up the autocensor.)

After saying stuff like that, I don't think a mere apology really makes much difference. I can't look at him the same way again. I don't much care for 30 Rock anyway though.

 

[Alan]

I remember reading accusations of homophobia about his stand-up in 2009, but I don't know what it was that he said that time. Maybe it was the same material, but it isn't just a one-off.

EDIT: Oh, I see that was mentioned in the article you linked to (below an ad so I thought the article had ended).

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Really disappointed. He was always so funny on The Daily Show interviews. Not sure what to make of the apologies yet.

 

[Babbylonian]

My problem with Tracy Morgan is that I find it nearly impossible to tell when he's being himself or when he's playing the caricature of himself. Given that, I'm just going to continue enjoying his silliness, both in interviews (his appearances on Howard Stern have busted me up every time) and on 30 Rock.

If he has ridiculous, illogical, offensive beliefs, that doesn't exactly separate him from the rest of the celebrity world.

 

[NoScotsman]

Tracy Morgan forgot the two rules of comedy:

1) Never go "full-retard."
2) Violence shall be restrained to two-fingered pokes in the eyes and slaps to the head.

 

[Monketi Ghost]

At least he's walking it all the way back and trying for more, even advocating gay marriage.

 

[Antiquehunter]

The incident smacked to me of a Ted Haggard moment. Methinks the Tracy doth protest too much.

 

[Monketi Ghost]

I had the same thought.

 

[Joey McGee]

Even seen Scare Tactics? He's a good host for that show.

Here's a segment where they scare the **** out of Gary the Babysitter with a ghost.



No gay jokes here, but it's got tracy morgon and a gay guy in it, plus it's hilarious.

 

[sadhatter]

You know as someone who has done live, and improv performances, i can feel for tracey.

Sometimes, a joke just gets away from you. Most people have seen this in daily life, but for people entertaining , it is an epic fail.

Not all stand up is as scripted as one would think, and sometimes when you start a joke, you don't really know where it is going to end up. This can either end in a flat joke , or saying something really stupid or offensive.

The bonus if your improving a bit in a multi person play is that someone is going to "check" your joke before it falls flat, or turns into something embarrassing ( watch Bottom Live for some good examples of this, mostly From Ade at Rik.) , but with one man shows, this safety net is not there.

I really wish i remembered more specifically my worst incidence of this, the cliff notes version is that i was preforming in a play that i had written, ( and in this instance directed, and stage managed, as people dropped out, but that is another rant.) , and at one point i had a spotlight aside to the audience, in regards to a female character being obnoxious. As we did more shows, i developed a habit of immediately going back to the spotlight aside once the scene was supposed to start, and delivering an improvised joke as an aside, kind of a " Oh yeah, and another thing." feel to it. Me and the lighting guy had known and worked with each other for a while, so it was pretty well done, and kept things fresh.

One night, the audience seemed to be loosing it over the gag, so i kept it up for about a half dozen additional asides, i can't remember exactly what i said, but in a grab at something i didn't say before i made a comment that was offensive , and the reaction was instant, kind of a hush, and some murmers in the audience. We didn't get another decent laugh till the third act.

While i don't remember what i said ( it was offensive to women in general, is the extent of what i remember.) , it was not an opinion i actually held , heck it wasn't even an opinion the character would have actually held, just me "rolling a 1" when i tried the joke.