I'm sure you've already heard the blogs and Twitter news about 30 Rock actor/comic Tracy Morgan's homophobic rant while doing stand-up in Nashville, Tennessee. But what has people in an uproar is fellow actor/comic Chris Rock's tweet yesterday about the matter which came across like he was giving Morgan a pass. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to live in world where Tracy Morgan can't say foul inappropriate s--t."
After GLAAD, comic Wanda Sykes, and 30 Rock actors Cheyenne Jackson, Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey gave a tongue-lashing to Tracy's ignorant comments, to which Wanda tweeted, "I fault the TN lawmakers. They've created an anti-gay environment," she tweeted at Morgan. "Don't believe Tracy would be so ignorant in LA. I do believe in free speech, but for a youth in TN or any other numerous place, Tracy just yelled, ‘Fire,’ in a crowded theater."
Sykes then set her sights on Rock's original tweet, though she didn't name him. "Ok, piss’d reading, “I don’t want 2 live n a world where Tracy can’t say…” I Do! U Keep the world, just break me off an evolved country,” she wrote. Chris, who stars on Broadway in the play, “The Motherf**ker With the Hat” clarified his earlier statement: “Tracy morgan is a tad off we all know that so when tracy says something i usually don’t take it anymore serious than i would a statement from gary busey or flavor flav .when i first heard the statement i thought it was offensive but it also reminded me of my father saying ill kill you if you ever bring home a white girl but after reading everything tracy said . wow i get it that shit wasn’t called for and i don’t support it at all. now can i please go to the tony awards [tonight] without getting my a** kicked.”
I can clearly see Chris's point. At times when we are among close friends we tend to say things out of character where someone says something off-the-cuff and we don't give it second thought. The problem with Tracy is he wasn't among friends when he went on his homophobic rant. He was in a theater full of people with a microphone in his hand saying something stupid and ignorant. He thought by performing in a town known for their anti-gay views (which is slowly but surely turning around), he could yell fire into a crowd and ignite a riot. His actions are no different than Michael Richards who a few years back went on a racist rampage onstage and was rightfully so crucified for it. I'm sure during the Tony Awards, jokes will be made about what Tracy has done, and I have no idea where do we go from here as far as his future on 30 Rock. I'll just sit back and see how this all plays out.
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