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Tracy Morgan spoke to hip-hop record producer and strong LGBT ally Russel Simmons in this interview here.
Russell: Having fought for decades for the gay community in their struggle to be treated fairly and with dignity, I think you know you crossed the line. However, I know you…I know you very well. And I know that deep down inside there is no hate in your heart.
Tracy: Of all the sicknesses, there is probably none more abusive than homophobia. My heart is committed to giving everyone the same rights that I deserve for myself. I don't care if you love the same sex as long as you have the ability to love someone. Also, you should have the right no matter who you are to protect and serve our country. I am deeply sorry for the comments I made. What I am most sad about is the comments I made about kids and bullying. I would never want any young person to think that I wasn't on their side and if any young person thinks they can bully a young gay kid, come see me at 30 Rock. On the corner, I would be happy to meet you. Or Brooklyn if you can't make it into Manhattan.
Morgan says sometimes he says “some really stupid shit.” Simmons references the initiative to pass marriage equality in New York state, which is looking optimistic, lots of good news at AmericaBlog. Morgan responses:
Thanks Russ for the support. I believe everyone deserves the right to be happy and marry who they want too; gay, white, black, male or female. Let me know where the rally's at Russ. I'm there!…GO KNICKS!
Honestly, I can read this interview without cynicism and consider that Morgan may have learned a valuable lesson from this experience, and may feel he made a terrible mistake.
CNN's Roland Martin? Apparently not. He's still stuck on defending Morgan, and has a second piece up doing so. Some people don't know when to put the shovel down.
But, there are rumors circulating that Morgan will respond to the gay orgs call that he do more than just say he's sorry.
We are fast winning allies over, like Louis J. Marinelli, Ken Mehlman, and even Harold Ford just cut a marriage equality support video. I more than anyone can understand the skepticism to think their motives are suspect and they are not to be trusted. Believe me, I do. It's a valid way to feel.
But I also think, it would behoove us to endeavor to be gracious, and afford them the benefit of the doubt. It is very hard to say “I'm sorry.” We don't want people to think our community greets mea culpas with venom.
Under these circumstance, I do hope we provide face that says, “Come on, join the equality party! Glad to have you! We're not all hateful like those crazy fundies!” Besides forgiveness is one of the foundations of Christianity. Wouldn't it just be something if we were better at it than the “real Christians?”
Such an attitude is more than spiritually uplifting, it's strategic politics. It will make it easier for more people to change their minds if they know they'll be greeted warmly.
UPDATE: GLAAD has announce Tracy Morgan will be taking steps to learn from this experience.
Tracy will be taking us up on our offer to sit down with people who have been hurt by anti-gay rejection and violence, to meet them face-to-face, and to learn their stories. He committed to meet in New York City later this week with LGBT youth who have been hurt or left homeless by parental rejection, as well as families who have lost children to anti-gay violence. Included will be Elke Kennedy, the founder of Sean’s Last Wish. Elke’s son Sean was killed by anti-gay violence in 2007 at the age of 20 in South Carolina, when another man called him a f*ggot and punched him so hard it broke his facial bones and separated his brain from his brain stem.
Good for Tracy. Listen to Russell, listen to Tina, listen to Chris Rock and Wanda Sykes. You're surrounded by some good people with good heads on their shoulders. Learn from them.
30 Comments
I fail to see any difference between Tracy Morgan, Pat Robertson or Buju Banton. These bigoted preachers and celebrities are all as guilty of fomenting violence, including suicide, against us as politicians who oppose same sex marriage to pander to cultists.
Morgan’s rant was not a mistake, it’s what he really thinks.
He should be fired.
I see one big difference.Tracy said he was sorry. I haven’t heard those words out of Robertson or Banton.
Really? just say sorry and show up a marriage rally?Really? People at his show were afraid for their lives and all he has to say is that he says “some really stupid shit” sometimes. And not just one stupid crack during the show but LOTS and LOTS of really stupid hateful shit from the accounts online. Showing up at a rally for marriage is all it takes to make amends? How about LOTS and LOTS of community service at The Ali Forney Center where he can explain all that to the homeless kids with parents who actually think like the hate he spews. When he’s being stupid that is.
It’s that thing about the “refuge in audacity”…It seems like too much “humor” these days is based on making outrageously ignorant/bigoted/violent/etc. statements for shock value. Hell, hipster “humor” is based almost entirely on that principle. And occasionally, a little bit of it can be used for comedic effect — but mostly (almost only) when self-directed. I’m willing to entertain the possibility that Tracy Morgan followed along with this obnoxious trend out of ignorance — though if he now recognizes how inappropriate his “humor” was, he’ll need to show it with a bit more effort than this.
On the bright side, this kind of public reversal could mean an education for Morgan’s fans and the crowds of fence-sitters as well. And we really do seem to be hitting a tipping point, as homophobic crap is becoming more publicly Not OK and more potentially well-meaning people are becoming aware of their own bad behavior.
Banton went a step further. He met with some GLBT ‘leaders’ and SF officials but that meeting, like Morgan’s ‘apology’ was just an attempt to end the mounting calls for a boycott against him. Even arch bigot Jimmy Swaggart ‘apologized’ for advocating the murder of gay men who looked at him ‘that way’.
Buju Banton went on advocating murder and the boycott and attempts to get his appearances canceled are still going on last I heard.
What makes them the same is their cavalier and murderous attitude towards violence against us. They all get defensive once in a while, particularly after grisly events like the murder of Mathew Sheppard. But when it dies down they’re back to fomenting violence.
I certainly didn’t say “just say sorry.”And I certainly didn’t say “all he has to do is show up at a rally.”
I just encouraged a gracious attitude as this process continues to play out.
It’s clear my suggestion is falling on deaf ears for you. Which is your choice. We’re all free people. Go boo and hiss him at the rally if it gives you satisfaction.
If he’s sincere,i.e. if this whole apology show hasn’t been orchestrated by his publicist to reconstruct his image, then it seems to me there are two possibilities in play:
1) he is schizophrenic
2) he has undergone a conversion on the order of Paul on the road to Damascus.
Every gay group in the country should take the comments in his apology and publicize them as widely and as often as possible. That’s the only way I can see any real good coming of this mess. (And it will have the bonus effect of exposing him as a damn bigoted LIAR if he ever launches into a similar “comedy” rant.)
MIghty swell of youto take this position, since it has been the position of the LGB for the past few decades that trans people should accept far worse “apologies” from LGB groups, media and cultural figures. (that is when a an apology is even offered)
Good to see some consistency.
I Don’t Believe HimI try to forgive others, if only because not forgiving tends to hurt me more than them. But I simply do not believe Morgan is sincere. I think he is in CYA mode and desperate. I could be wrong, of course, but the comments he made at his “comedy” show are most likely the true Morgan. Everything since is BS.
If his post-logorrhea comments ARE sincere, then he is mentally ill, and shouldn’t be trusted in anything, regardless of context.
You have a point……..butI have a hard time believing that there is not some kernel of true feelings in the “act” If he is such a friend to the LGBT population, he would have NEVER said the nasty things he did.
Maybe he felt he could get away with it in the state of Tennessee because of their feelings and laws against gays. Most of the crowd did laugh and applaud after all. Again, if he truly was a friend to US, he could have made it a teaching moment instead of feeding the hate.
I hope his none of his children are gay.
If he works hard and makes ammends, I could forgive, but I will NEVER forget. Same goes for all the others who have hurt US by their words and actions then came out.
Well, there were similiar reportscoming out of a stage show he did in NYC at Carnegie Hall in 2009.
I’m just suggesting an open mind as the story plays out.
I’m a person that believes, though it’s rarely demonstrated, people are capable of change. And few people are truly irredeemable human beings.
So, we’ll see what transpires.
No one lives in a vacuum.
Maybe, but even if that’s true, I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt. Try looking at it this way: His bigoted beliefs came from other people. He probably grew up hearing homophobic comments, which have been continually reinforced by other homophobes throughout his life. It’s very hard to change old habits and attitudes, and it takes a lot of time and hard work.
So, even if he is still a bigot, maybe he wants to–and is trying to–change. We can either help him do that, or make it more difficult for him.
If he’s in CYA mode, let’s *use* it.I don’t know Tracy Morgan — I have no idea whether his on-stage remarks or his apology are more sincere. It seems, though, that he has at least decided that he doesn’t want to appear homophobic. Whatever the motivation behind that — shouldn’t we use it to our advantage? Dude has the capacity to contribute to a social environment where being an ally is a better thing to one’s image than being an enemy or fence-sitter. And if he wants his apologies to be accepted, he’ll have to do some work to make people believe it — in circumstances where his audience includes the straight people whose minds we want to change, not just LGBT people. After his on-stage BS, he owes us, and I for one would rather call in the debt and give him a chance to do some good than reject it for the sake of maintaining the purity of my offense.
My perspective too. Whether we believe the sincerity of his apology or not does not affect his ability to sell our messages and ideas to his fan base. “I treated gay people disrespectfully, and I was wrong,” is a pretty powerful message. It may reach some of his fans. Many of them may never even thought about the issues we live with, familial rejection, homelessness, violence. If he is going to challenge them to contemplate them, that’s helpful.
Maybe we’re both cynical.I just see it as looking for a way to make use of the situation beyond feeding my own sense of moral superiority. Not that I don’t feel morally superior — not at all. I’d just rather have that feeling and have someone who spews homophobic crap working in our favor than just have that feeling. (And I’m not so cynical that I won’t hope that dude just got caught up in the “Oh, look how offensive I’m being, LOL!” and now genuinely wants to do the right thing. Because the only thing better than getting an enemy to help create more allies is to get a fence-sitter to become a genuine ally and then create more allies. Even if it lacks the delightful soupçon of schadenfreude.)
AbsolutelyLet’s not get so blinded by ideological purity that we start acting like the FRC or something. Let’s permit a bit of pragmatism to seep into the discourse.
Setting aside the specifics here……because I’m certainly not in a position to judge his sincerity, but the big tipping point isn’t going to be between bigotry and universal tolerance, but between the social acceptability of showing bigotry publicly and widespread and immediate public disapproval of people who show such bigotry.
I hope he does mean it, and I hope the day comes when nobody even thinks to put down LGBT people.
But it is a hugely important step in the process to get to the point where there is a high and immediate social cost to spewing this kind of hate.
In some ways, I care more that he feels the need to do major and immediate PR control and that the majority of the media (and what parts of the public we are hearing from) seem to take that for granted.
I’d love him not to be a bigot, and I fear for his kids and their friends if he is. But it’s a far bigger issue that he feels the need to shut up about any bigotry he does feel and that other people get that message, too.
He has a “right” to say it. We have a right not to let him do so without consequences.
“it has been the position of the LGB…”There is no such thing as THE LGB. What there are are LGB people, and there are as many different kinds of LGB people as there are different kinds in every other population. This ongoing insistence by some trans commenters (note: I said SOME) that LGB people constitute some sort of monolithic bloc and that we are all anti-trans villains is not only pointless, it is quite actively counterproductive. Not to mention really boring.
Roland WTFI just read Roland’s second article on this. Man you are right Pam, that asshole cant put the shovel down. I am sick and tired of people trying to justice bigoted humor as some sort of mental pass off for real world impact their words actually have.
I am glad Morgan is going to great lengths to fix his mistakes and become a true supporter. However the defenders of his words, like Roland, really need to take a sociology class, or read a damn book about social interaction and the importance and effect language has. As it has been said so many times before by many sociologist, without language there would be no society.
The degree to which we use comedy to make jokes about things that are not that funny outside of a 100 dollar ticket stub, really shows just how low we are as a culture. I for one am tired of seeing our people be used as the brunt of most jokes for these hack comedians. I wonder how roland would feel if people started painting their skin with black or dark brown pain, then putting on a clown/monkey face with a small top hat and parade around the stage like a primate? They used to do that back in the forties and fifties. I wonder if he would laugh then?
Any joke that is told at the expense of another human being, or one that degrades another human being is not comedy or human, it is mean spirited, discriminating rhetoric. The only reason why people find it funny is because those targeted are almost always seen as less than.
I’ll keep that in mindWhen LGB political and media figures and groups make transphobic statements – I specifically look for commentary from non-trans LGB sources calling them out. I’m usually left empty. When those same people and groups issue hollow apologies, I specifically look for non-trans people to tell them how and why the apologies aren’t actually apologies. Again, I’m usually (not always) left wondering where the self-proclaimed “trans allies” are.
meanwhile, at the Webby awards …Dan Savage’s five-word acceptance speech has a special shout-out to Tracy Morgan.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/…
PS. I like his T-shirt.
Please see that you do.Smearing entire populations of LGB people would appear to be a serious violation of Autumn’s newly-updated terms of service, exactly like smearing religious sects.
Try looking up Shiley Q Liquor…and tell me that that LGBT community does not have its own problem with this sort of thing…
I’m sorry…but a racist, misogynistic, fatphobic idiot like Savage has no business throwing stones at anyone else.
Can you namea single time an LGB media figure (actor, writer, reporter, whatever) who has made an anti-trans comment has had close to the level of non-trans community outrage directed at them as, say, Kobe Bryant?
Perhaps observing and noting trends is painting with a broad brush. Perhaps it is simply making observations and noting them.
This is preposterous.Your original comment was NOT about “LGB media figures.” It was about “the LGB,” period. If you were talking just about media celebrities, you should have said so (and you would have had a point–an arguable one, but at least a point with some level of validity). Instead you chose to smear the entire LGB population. I repeat: there are rules of civility here that demand common respect for other Blenders and that explicitly demand that entire groups not be smeared. See Autumn’s post of yesterday if you’re having trouble grasping that. Why do you think you’re exempt from those rules?
that so?The context, BTW, was his acceptance of an award for “It Gets Better.” Want to throw that out too?
Broad BrushI probably did paint with too broad a brush in my comment. I had some very specific instances in mind when posting that that were not fair to the larger LGB population who was likely completely unaware of the specific events
Thanks.It’s good we’re on the same page, then. As a gay man who is always quite vocally supportive of trans equality in our community, it always makes me bristle when I read comments that portray the entire gay community as enemies of T progress. Lately I’ve been speaking out about it when I encounter it, and I probably get a bit too testy at times.
Oh I know…Also the Corbin fisher scandal, where LGBT were siding and making excuses for fisher and damning anyone who was in support of the kids.