Tweet
“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 co-workers 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.”
GLAAD QUOTE:
“NBC has taken an important first step by condemning anti-gay violence, but must now push Morgan to tell his fans that such violence is not only not funny, but unacceptable,” said Barrios. “We urge him to meet with the Americans at the heart of this epidemic to understand why such words have no place in our culture today.”
NBC CHAIRMAN ROBERT GREENBLATT QUOTE:
“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.”
And the latest press release from GLAAD (via email):
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, today renewed a call for Tracy Morgan to speak out following anti-gay remarks during a comedy show. GLAAD also responded to a NBC statement which was issued following a call for the network to speak out and discussions with GLAAD today.Following a public apology from Morgan, GLAAD urged Morgan to assure the remarks would be removed from his routine and to send a clear message to Americans that anti-gay violence is no joke.
GLAAD continues to offer to arrange a meeting between Morgan and family members who have lost children to anti-gay violence. We have also offered to arrange a meeting between Morgan and LGBT young people who have been hurt by parental rejection.
“NBC has taken an important first step by condemning anti-gay violence, but must now push Morgan to tell his fans that such violence is not only not funny, but unacceptable,” said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios. “We urge him to meet with the Americans at the heart of this epidemic to understand why such words have no place in our culture today.”
Earlier today, GLAAD called for NBC to condemn this violence during an interview with CNN and via glaad blog.org.
After speaking with GLAAD, NBC Chairman Robert Greenblatt issued the following statement:
“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,” Greenblatt said. “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.”
30 Rock received the GLAAD Media Award this year for Outstanding Television – Individual Episode.
More information on Morgan’s apology and original remarks are available here: http://glaadblog.org/2011/06/10/glaad-calls-on-nbc-to-condemn-tracy-morgan-tirade/. His apology came after a series of anti-gay jokes during a recent performance in Nashville, Tenn. After GLAAD, HRC, Truth Wins Out, bloggers and others demanded that the comedian to address the allegations.
“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,” Morgan said in the written statement. “I’m not a hateful person and don’t condone any kind of violence against others. While I am an equal opportunity jokester, and my friends know what is in my heart, even in a comedy club this clearly went too far and was not funny in any context.”
19 Comments
Tracy Morganneeds to meet the same fate as Don Imus and Michael Richards. His tirade was certainly as bad, if not worse, than the comments made by those two.
There should not be a double standard based on who the victim of the tirade is. Are gays just not important enough to warrant the perpetrator being fired?
NBC hasn’t made it clear to Morgan that this behavior won’t be tolerated. He’s still employed by them. So, they have made it clear that his behavior has been tolerated.
All about the BenjaminsSadly, neither Imus nor Richards were stars and big $$ people at the time they were fired. 30 Rock is still a big success for NBC, so I am not surprised this is the extent of the network’s response.
On the other hand, kudos to Tina Fey for totally getting it right. Not only was Morgan’s attitude offensive, but he works in an industry with so many openly gay and lesbian people that he deserved the hidden warning she gave. IMHO the best response to Morgan would be for all those LGBT colleagues to refuse to work with him without a LOT of grovelling. Can you imagine him having to tape an episode and no one would do his make-up – THAT I’d like to see.
That’s why if the community wants Morgan cannedLooks like we’ll have to go advertiser boycott route.
Worked for Glenn Beck.
Get a list of 30 Rock advertisers and let them know you don’t appreciate them supporting the salary of dangerous hate monger Tracy Morgan.
It doesn’t appear that NBC and Fey are going to can him.
Actually, I think you’re wrong about 30 Rock being a big success. It has never done well in the ratings. It continues probably because it squeaks by on Fey’s internal popularity.
And that’s why it might be very vulnerable to an advertiser boycott. It’s probably NOT a profitable show ALREADY. A few key advertisers bailing could be very bad for the bottom line.
Hmmmmm….
I have one question for Mr. Greenblatt.
EstroMaxx?
Too Little, Too Late, Once AgainThese post PR disaster apologies do nothing for me. Does anyone here really feel better that that prick has apologized?! Fake sentiments from plastic people who’s only concern is the bottom line.
In a way I am glad that incidents like this happen seemingly on a regular basis. It’s a reminder of how far we have to go. I mean, this is a person surrounded by gays in a professional setting and still this is something he is comfortable saying in his act???
He can stick his apology up his ass. I’d have gone up to the stage and spit on him before I walked out if I was at that show.
“Sadly, neither Imus nor Richards were stars and big $$ people at the time they were fired. “Richards wasn’t fired. Both Seinfeld and his own lame attempt at a post-Seinfeld show were already long gone (and speaking of homophobic – has anyone with NBC ever even acknowledged how homophobic the ‘not that there’s anything wrong with that’ episode of Seinfeld really was, with Jerry’s “new recruit” line?); he simply ensured that the door would be barred in the future.
Imus? He was their morning show – albeit as a simulcast of his radio show, but that was a big deal (at least within NBC) at the time.
I’ll be appalled (but not surprised in the least) if LGBT staffers keep working with MorganIf I were one of the writers, I’d give his character as little to do and say as I could possibly manage to do while he’s still in the cast.
But my career is in publishing, not the entertainment media. The amount of crap gays in the media are willing to put up with is a source of constant amazement to me. A few nights ago I sat stunned as David Letterman referred to David Burtka as Neil Patrick Harris’ “friend,” not lover or partner, and Harris just sat there smiling and nodding. And this was in a discussion of their family–and the twins they fathered and are parenting! Why Harris didn’t, at the very least, correct Letterman politely is something only he could explain. But I certainly hope he explained it, at the very least, to Burtka.
So it won’t really be surprised if all the gay staffers at 30 Rock give Morgan the same deference, not to say obeisance.
What’s the point of celebrating Gay Pride if you’re willing to sacrifice your own pride to make a buck?
Fire Mr. MorganWhenever something like this happens, it helps to replace the terms about gay people with terms relating to other groups which have been oppressed, like black people, Jews, women, etc.
So if a white comedian had said that a black boy should be stabbed to death because he is black, would he get to keep his high-paying job on NBC?
What if Tracy Morgan had said that Jewish kids should be stabbed to death? Would he keep his job after that?
What if he said that if his child were born a girl, that he would “pull out a knife and stab that little [N-word] to death”? Would that be OK?
So for other oppressed groups, there would be so much public outrage over this kind of talk that the bigot spouting it would be quickly fired. However, when the hatred is targeted at LGBT people, a simple apology suffices. And our gay rights groups like GLAAD don’t even ask for, much less demand, NBC to fire Tracy Morgan.
Violent talk against LGBT people is still not taken as seriously as violent talk against other oppressed groups.
The Seinfeld “not that there’s anything wrong with that” episode was not at all homophobicIf you watch the rerun of Seinfeld’s “not that there’s anything wrong with that” episode carefully, you will see that it is very pro-gay. It was a groundbreaking episode that showed that even George and Jerry’s parents said that there wasn’t anything wrong with being gay. They were just surprised as anyone would be if they suddenly heard that their forty-something year old son were gay. That episode did deal with gay stereotypes, but was not nasty about it. That episode joked about the stereotypes without being demeaning or hateful towards gay men. Even the “new recruit” line was said sarcastically, such that the person who said it, I think it was Jerry, did not at all believe that gay people can be recruited.
Save the charges of bigotry for people who deserve it: Tracy Morgan, Michael Richards, Don Imus, etc.
Not enough!I’m not happy about NBC’s comment. It needs to come up with a t.v. add condemning hate speech against LGBT people if it wants to retain viewers who are at one of its lowest levels currently. Without that, Morgan’s venom will be forgotten, dismissed until the next time someone else goes on a tirade. I’m surprised Alec Baldwin hasn’t said anything.
Morgan’s hate speech included violent comments directed at women, too.Morgan urged violence against women, children, and gay people. It’s sad to me that that is apparently ok with his bosses.
FIRE TRACY MORGANTypical liberal whitewash. Both Tina Fey’s and Bob Greenblatt at NBC’s responses are unacceptable because they do not go far enough. And it allows Chris Rock and that awful guy on CNN, Roland Martin, (and by default Alec Baldwin) the chance to defend hate speech.
There is only one acceptable outcome, and that is for NBC Universal and 30 Rock to fire Tracy Morgan. He has said evil things and he cannot take them back or possibly apologize for them. The only way to deal with hateful murderous homophobes is to silence them by taking away their public platform.
Why aren’t GLAAD and the HRC calling for a boycott of NBC and 30 Rock? Where are the positive gay characters on 30 Rock anyway? Hello?!?
Agreed 100%. It won a GLAAD award and very appropriately so.
It humorously raised the bar at the time about how we discuss LGBT people. The constant repeating of the phrase “not that there’s anything WRONG with that!” was both funny AND slyly communicated that civilized people (and PC) people did not condone speaking ill of gay people.
This was a step up and an elevating of the dialogue in the 1990s. And on the biggest hit show on TV.
NBC CONTACT LISTCONTACT NBC: RebeccaMarks@nbcuni.com;
Kathy.Kelly-Brown@nbcuni.com;
Contact Alec Baldwin, a producer of 30 Rock on Twitter @AlecBaldwin #FireTracyMorgan@NotTinaFey;
Tina Fey is on Facebook as Elizabeth Tina Fey
Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness . . . and then throw some gasoline on that candle.
That episode was definitely not homophobicIt’s all about juxtaposition… the ridiculous lengths they go to in order to prove they’re not gay, and then the half-assed “not that there’s anything wrong with that” line right after are meant to show just how deeply embedded homophobia is in our society, even for those straight people who are supposedly supportive.
“Even the “new recruit” line was said sarcastically….”I think not.
While I agree that the rest of the episode was fine, there was no sarcasm at all when Jerry tossed out the “new recruit” line.
Done Imus…Denegrated a group of upstanding female college basketball players LIVE ON HIS NBC SHOW by calling them nappy headed hos. That was perfect justification for dumping Imus since it was done on NBC airwaves on NBC’s time and dime.
Richards was not fired from anything. His career had already fallen off a cliff. On top of that he too reserved his venom for a specific person in the room…and actually deviated from his act to do it.
Tracy Morgan, regardless of what you think of his act, was doing his act. His whole scthick is that of an frequenly offensive, clueless jerk. Nothing that has been mentioned so far has shown that he deviated from that routine at all. You don’t fire someone for doing what they get paid to do just because you don’t like what they do.
As usual, the fangs and claws are out in force…I’m not a fan of Tracy Morgan’s humor…but it seems that once again, something a celebrity has said has been blown way out of proportion.
Morgan’s whole act has, from the begining, been about being offensive, at time juvenie and over the top about everything. Yet for doing that in his typical routine, people want him fired.
I can’t say that I’m shocked.
What is sad is seeing Pam’s House Blend joining the lynch mob.
NahYou just sympathize with him. Admit it and don't be a coward providing BS excuses for bigots.