Comedian Tracy Morgan reportedly jokes, during a homophobic rant, that “if his son was gay…he would pull out a knife and stab that little [N word] to death.” His 30 Rock co-star, Tina Fey, defended him, saying it doesn’t “line up with the Tracy Morgan I know.” We’ll, you never know.
Morgan did apologize—after the anti-gay routine (reportedly not his first) triggered a backlash of bad publicity. GLAAD has invited him to meet families who have lost children to anti-gay violence, noting ”while we all love humor, this is no laughing matter.” True enough. But would a white comic not starring in a Republican-bashing sitcom beloved by liberals have gotten off this easily?
More. John McWhorter (who is black) writes on black homophobia:
Wise people like to point to the racism lying always “just underneath” our thin American skins. Well, an equally wise observation is that a certain especially acrid brand of homophobia lies “just underneath” in too many of America’s black men. …
Will there ever be no homophobia among black Americans? No—just like there will always be some among others. But no more black, wealthy comedians, suave actor-philanthropists, and megastar athletes tossing around epithets and remarks about gay people of the sort which, when aimed at black people, are considered demonstrations of backwardness and evil.
20 Comments for “Eye of the Beholder”
posted by Jorge on
I’m not going to say Michael Richards, Mel Gibson, and Isaiah Washington because I’m not yet convinced the axe still isn’t about to drop.
What is worse than how outrageous his comments are is the fact that he wasn’t immediately booed off the stage for that knife to that N bit. I guess the audience was too genteel for that. People need to speak up. I recently heckled a comic over something different–single-handedly put a stop to it, too. I saw it as part of the game, but it was still insulting.
posted by Houndentenor on
You must not read any other gay blogs because I don’t see anyone accepting Tracy Morgan’s “apology”. I certainly haven’t.
posted by BobN on
I can’t think of any public discussion of a similar act using similar language. There are some comics and other entertainers who are popular in right wing circles and who say some impolite things about gay people in their acts, but nothing rising to infanticide, at least not that’s been reported.
I’m not quite clear why Miller sees this as “getting off easy”. What more could happen to him? It’s not like anyone gets kicked off a show or a team for stuff like this. The effects to his career will be hard to discern.
As for whom he should meet with cooperation from GLAAD, I would say skip those families and go visit this guy:
http://www.towleroad.com/2010/08/long-island-man-kills-infant-boy-for-acting-like-a-girl.html
posted by another steve on
I’m not quite clear why Miller sees this as “getting off easy”.
Well, as Jorge points out in the first comment, “Michael Richards, Mel Gibson, and Isaiah Washington.”
They had their careers totaled (although Jodi Foster has tried mightily to resurrect Gibson’s). Isaiah Washington was fired from his network gig. GLAAD’s response to Morgan was rather tame — let’s talk. If he was white and viewed as a conservative comic, they would certainly have gone ballistic, no doubt about it.
posted by BobN on
I lack the pop-culture gene most gay men have, so I had to Google two of the examples. But I didn’t need to Google Gibson. He wasn’t hounded out for his anti-gay remarks… he had a long series of episodes that were anti-gay. He didn’t even get tossed for his anti-semitism, though it did set the stage. He lost his career for his drunken tirade and probably domestic violence.
Anyway, Isaiah who? Oh, him. Assaulting a fellow cast member and using a slur in the course of it. Yeah, it was the slur that the producers really objected to…
Michael who? Oh, him. Had no idea that was his real name. He used racist language while yelling at a heckler. He didn’t have a job to be fired from, as far as I can see. His career, such as it was, petered out.
As I said, perhaps not too clearly, we’ll have to see what happens to Tracy Morgan’s career. Either way, it won’t be particularly easy to compare what will happen with what might have happened. It’s not like he’s one of the top talents, right? (I could be wrong. Like I said, I’m not much for popular culture.)
posted by BobN on
“probable” not “probably domestic violence”
posted by Jorge on
Isaiah Washington was fired from his network gig.
Actually my point with Washington was supposed to be that black men get off easy for bashing gays, since the NAACP honored him, but when I did a Yahoo search because I needed to look up his name I learned that his contact didn’t get renewed.
I remember that story you linked to, BobN. It’s hard to believe such sickening evil and stupidity–some people really think kids that young piss them off on purpose. That is exactly what he should do.
posted by Jorge on
One more thing.
This blog topic is a trademark infringement of an excellent D&D computer game series of the rockin’ 90s. I’m gonna go play some video games now on my Windows 3.1 computer now.
posted by Gus on
One can pray the Republican away.
posted by Houndentenor on
It worked for me!
Houndentenor, ex-Republican
posted by Jorge on
I got a healing from seeing the Pope and became an estranged Catholic. Does that count?
posted by tim on
Oh please, give it a rest. Morgan has not gotten off easily; this isn’t over. I’m still reading calls (on Huffington Post, no less) that he be fired.
posted by Throbert McGee on
Fey also commented that Morgan was “sleepy and self-centered” — I thought “sleepy” was an odd word choice (“laid-back”, maybe, but “sleepy”?), and I wonder if this was her way of needling Morgan with a deliberate Stepin Fetchit reference: “Laaaawd, I sho is suh-leeeeeeeeee-py!”
posted by Throbert McGee on
What I want to know is whether the quotes I’ve seen reported are representative of the tone of Morgan’s routine, or if there’s significant context that has been omitted. (I mean, if GLAAD tells me that something or someone was “homophobic,” I always want a second opinion.)
I’m reminded that in one of his old stand-up routines (maybe it was from Delirious, or maybe it was Raw), Eddie Murphy made repeated comments about “faggot-ass faggots.”
Yet Murphy was a smart enough comedian to turn things around at least partly and poke fun at himself — noting that some “faggots” were really bulked up and muscular from going to the gym, and it was safer to make fun of them from the other side of the street: “Hey, faggot! You better hope I don’t come over there and bust your faggot face!” [pantomimes running away a few steps] “That’s right, I’ll kick your ass, faggot-ass faggot!”
So the question is, was Tracy Morgan purely and simply being homophobic, or was he (like Murphy) at least partly talking about homophobia? (Note that “being homophobic” and “talking about homophobia” aren’t mutually exclusive, but the latter does mitigate the former somewhat.)
posted by Houndentenor on
Morgan doesn’t deny what has been reported about his act. No one is judging this based on what GLAAD said. So far as I can tell only the right still takes PR statements from GLAAD or HRC seriously. We heard the eyewitness account. If Morgan has some explanation for his routine, he is perfectly capable of offering that explanation himself. He hasn’t. I think it’s safe to assume that there isn’t one.
posted by Carl on
“But would a white comic not starring in a Republican-bashing sitcom beloved by liberals have gotten off this easily?”
You mean like Larry the Cable Guy?
posted by Carl on
I don’t think he’s ever made the extreme comments Morgan made, but I just named him mostly because he is a comedian who’s made anti-gay remarks and I don’t remember GLAAD or anyone else using it to hurt his career.
posted by Houndentenor on
That presumes that anyone at GLAAD has ever heard of Larry the Cable Guy. LOL
posted by BobN on
Yes, weird question. The only guy I could think of was that Dice fellow. Clay? Whatever.
posted by Regan DuCasse on
Even Richard Pryor had a sea change and decided he wasn’t going to use the word ni**er anymore.
Comedy clubs and their talent use all manner of derogatory humor, which sometimes is funny, if deprecating. Mostly, it’s not.
In light of horrific hate crimes, awareness of them and also the suffering of gay youth from bullying (which wasn’t a national discussion back in the hey days of Eddie Murphy and other comedians), there is more outrage and challenge at the behavior of people like Tracy Morgan.
I can’t help but think of little Ronnie Paris, all of three years old whose father beat him to death in order to butch the little boy up.
Because we know that Morgan’s words, have reality in real lives, what he said wasn’t funny and would never be for gay folks who know better.
And anyone that likes to think it’s because gay people can’t take a joke, it’s not that.
After all, there are plenty of comedians who represent the community, or who support it.
But if Tracy Morgan knew about Ronnie Paris, would he be mortified at what he said, never to say it again?
Perhaps someone should tell him why the gay community is so upset. It’s precisely because of a long list of little boys and girls who ARE dead and buried over people not taking them and their lives seriously.