Tracy Morgan and a Notch Too Far: Why He's Apologizing For the Wrong Thing

This is not Tracy Morgan speaking with his image consultant. Or is it?

Nah, the pic comes from the movie Cop Out, which isn't such a bad film, btw, considering it got one star. Tracy, Bruce Willis and Seann William Scott directed by Kevin Smith, some solid laughs though possibly not the most solid script in the world. Whatev, that's not why we're here.

(Not why we're here, but here's the movie's trailer, anyway. LINK.)

You all know what Tracy said in Nashville ... blah blah blah stab my gay kid blah blah blah.

I don't for a second think that Tracy Morgan would stab his child with a knife if he were gay. What I think is that Tracy Morgan will say anything during a live show to get a laugh. That's the kind of comic he is.

I obviously wasn't in Nashville to see this show and I haven't found any video or audio, but I've seen Tracy work enough to know what he does on stage and with a crowd. More than some other comics Tracy will wander off from his usual set when something is working, and I'm presuming here that something he said got a response from the crowd that indicated to him that if he escalated the joke he'd get a bigger laugh.

I know Tracy has used that line "if gays can take a dick up their ass, they can take a joke" before, so we know he plays in this area during his act. I would bet that his gay material was doing really well on this particular night in this particular city and he thought he'd take it up a notch.

On this night, he would take it up a notch too far. And for THAT he should be apologizing.

I want Tracy Morgan to apologize for attempting to throw red meat to that crowd and not knowing when to stop. I've seen politicians do this much more judiciously and I haven't even liked it then.

When you say something unsettling like this to a group in that setting, there are two possible outcomes.

1. They go wild in response to the shock value and continue to laugh.
2. They turn against the performer and chaos ensues.

Sounds like a bit of both happened. And someone who is newly out of the closet was so offended that he took to Facebook to complain about it, but first called his mom to come out to her ahead of time (like I said, newly out).

And I'm sure he was offended. I just happen to be offended by something else.

So when Tracy runs to GLAAD to apologize and to Russell Simmons (?!?) to have a public conversation about the affair, I'm kinda just not feeling it.

To be frank, I don't think Tracy Morgan thinks about a lot more than Tracy Morgan. I don't imagine he sits and ponders the political issues of the day or the vast chasm forming between the haves (of which he is one) and the have nots or the travails of people who love each other but are not allowed by law to get married.

He certainly proved he doesn't think about his TV gig on 30 Rock while doing his stand up act during hiatus. He wouldn't be in this jam if he did.

The truth is probably that Tracy Morgan has not been much of a thoughtful person in his adult life. If his actions since the whole blowup result in him being a more thoughtful person? Great.

But I don't need him to apologize to GLAAD or Uncle Rush or Ellen or anyone else for what people think is homophobia. I need him to apologize for being an irresponsible comedian.

Comments

[Bd__sd]

1.

just wondering: did @craigyferg need to apologize to the transgender community about his "sister" Peg Blerguson?

[Joe B.]

2.

I didn't see any apology in the usual locations (and you know how ridiculous I think that whole process is anyway).

He did have John Waters on not long after that whole dustup and they talked about it briefly, and Craig did make a comment about the show being a nonjudgmental space, as he does from time to time.