Brian Damage
06-28-2011, 11:17 PM
'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 ******** kids," he said at a recent stand-up show in New York, according to the New York Times. "Them young ******** 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 in 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?
http://www.popeater.com/2011/06/28/tracy-morgan-apology-homophobic-gay-30-rock-tina-fey-********/
"Don't ever mess with women who have ******** kids," he said at a recent stand-up show in New York, according to the New York Times. "Them young ******** 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 in 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?
http://www.popeater.com/2011/06/28/tracy-morgan-apology-homophobic-gay-30-rock-tina-fey-********/