Tracy Morgan Apologizes to Gays, Offends Mentally Disabled, Now What?

By Kiki Von Glinow Posted Jun 28th 2011 04:00PM

'You can't teach an old dog new tricks' -- so the saying goes -- and Tracy Morgan appears to be one roughed up pup. The comedian and actor, who recently went on an apology spree after a barrage of hateful homophobic comments he made during a Nashville stand-up show, has done it again -- this time slamming the mentally and physically disabled.

"Don't ever mess with women who have retarded kids," he said at a recent stand-up show in New York, according to the New York Times. "Them young retarded males is strong. They're strong like chimps," he quipped before continuing with a joke about a 'crippled' teen girl he was allegedly once romantic with.

It's no surprise the the 42-year-old comedian is a proponent of controversy, his vulgar and often offensive stand-up shows are nothing new -- and that's exactly the reason he sells tickets, right? So why the hullabaloo surrounding Morgan's homophobic, sexist, ignorant and often downright cruel 'jokes' now?

Before Morgan landed the role of Tracy Jordan on Tina Fey's '30 Rock' his star status, although burning, was less than stellar. Sure, he was on 'SNL' for ten years (1996 - 2006) but those were the glory days of Fey, Amy Poehler, Jimmy Fallon and Maya Rudolph. While his castmates largely stole the show, Morgan was left on stage B.

The same year Morgan parted ways with the weekly sketch show, Fey cast him in what would become his career reinvention (and arguably, making) role. Morgan's character, Tracy Jordan, who seemed to be more than loosely based on his real life personality, was the often offensive but mostly lovable and egotistical actor who dreamed of one day scoring an E.G.O.T. (an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony win) or doing 'missionary' work in Africa. How laughable, how offensively charming?

Fey's creation of a character so strikingly similar to the real life Tracy allowed TV's iron curtain to fall. Tracy Morgan meet Tracy Jordan. One and the same, no? But the indistinguishable line Fey created for Morgan may be exactly the reason his homophobic Nashville comments blew up and landed him on the LGBT hit list. Had the lovable, head in the clouds 'Tracy Jordan' just said what we think he did? And during gay pride month no less!

Not much later than Morgan made his homophobic rant -- 'If I had a son that was gay, I would stab him' -- the apologies started to flow. Soon Morgan was attending meetings with at risk gay youth, hugging the blogger who outed his homophobic jokes and befriending GLAAD -- everything just short of almost switching teams himself.

But why so apologetic for a joke that was specifically crafted to entertain what he thought was his similarly line-crossing fan base? Was it NBC telling him to reel it in, to ditch the very thing that stand-up comedians are supposed to do -- push the envelope.

There's only room in showbiz for one Tracy and it seems about time to get pickin' before he ends up the the ambassador for every butt of the joke cause under the sun. So who's it going to be, sir? Tracy Morgan or Tracy Jordan?

Tags: tracy morgan

Comments

(38)

Tuesday 28 June

By Vicky Wiley

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Once an @sshole, always an @sshole!

By joan

Tracy Morgan is a despicable man who need someone to give him a right and left hook to the mouth just to shut him up. I have never wished anyone anything bad, but this man needs a case of lockjaw to keep him quiet. It is terrible when someone takes jabs at anybody, especially the mental disabled. He is shameful and NBC should drop him from 30 Rock, NOW!!!!

By skyebleu

He's given a great big clue. All that apologizing Tracy Morgan did was a publicity stunt. GLAAD and GLSEN were used.

By snarky404

he shouldn't be calling anyone a "chimp"

By bob

cmon liberal media put this creep out to pasture like you did michael richards

By Pookie

Never thought he was funny anyway. This just proves my point.

By Gregory

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Any gays attracted to this man?

Wednesday 29 June

By stu

i think eddie murphy is.

By MrPurdue

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No, just you.

By cammer

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Maybe he should just put a gun to his head...

By Bougainvillea

Okay, I don't like this man, but this was a joke. Jokes about anyone, tasteless as they may be, should be fair game in my opinion. The problem with the gay stuff was that it was a RANT, not a joke, and it ended with him killing his son. If he'd said he'd kill his retarded son, I'd take issue with that, too. But nothing said here could be construed as an attempt to provoke violence toward another group.

By burntsurf

Isn't a joke supposed to be funny? There was nothing funny about this man's babble! Perhaps you (and him too) haven't heard that making jokes or making fun of a mentally challenged person is wrong, wrong, wrong and not funny in the least! Sad to say that there are still so many people who think they are making fun of someone less fortunate or different in some way wwhen, in fact, they are only making themself looks little and small and idiotic!

By damien

Anything that helps you sleep at night,Bo....

By kimball hawkins

When you run out of funny, be insulting. Interesting motto.

By Victor

I never understood what people saw in him, even before he proved to be a jerk.

By OhMy

I agree. I never thought he was funny. I don't watch anything that he is in - even when he was on Saturday Night Live I would change the chanel when his skit came up. I couldn't believe Tina Fay included him in her show and why people go to see him and actually pay good money is beyond me.

By Bobby Dee

I think Morgan was right. Some of the them are sickly but a lot of retardates are freakishly strong.

By tana green

First gays, now the disabled. How low can he go? Maybe he'll rant on cute little puppies and kittens next.

By watta fluk

Maybe gay retards will be next.

By mjb

How else can this ugly get publicity. This type can go even lower.

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