While she is glad Tracy has apologized, the '30 Rock' creator/star admits she finds the violent imagery of her co-star's anti-gay comments at a Nashville comedy gig disturbing.
- Jun 11, 2011
AceShowbiz - Tina Fey has responded to Tracy Morgan's homophobic comments. After her "30 Rock" co-star apologized for the rant on early Friday, June 10, the show's star and creator issued a statement of her own. In it, she admitted that the rant was disturbing, and hopes that his apology will be accepted by his co-workers.
"I'm glad to hear that Tracy apologized for his comments," 41-year-old Tina opened her statement. She continued on, "Stand-up comics may have the right to 'work out' their material in its ugliest and rawest form in front of an audience, but the violent imagery of Tracy's rant was disturbing to me at a time when homophobic hate crimes continue to be a life-threatening issue for the GLBT Community."
"It also doesn't line up with the Tracy Morgan I know, who is not a hateful man and is generally much too sleepy and self-centered to ever hurt another person. I hope for his sake that Tracy's apology will be accepted as sincere by his gay and lesbian coworkers at '30 Rock', without whom Tracy would not have lines to say, clothes to wear, sets to stand on, scene partners to act with, or a printed-out paycheck from accounting to put in his pocket. The other producers and I pride ourselves on '30 Rock' being a diverse, safe, and fair workplace."
Also speaking up his mind over the matter was NBC entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt. "I speak for NBC and myself personally when I say we do not condone hate or violence of any kind and I am pleased to see Tracy Morgan apologizing for recent homophobic remarks in his stand-up appearance," he said.
Bob further added, "We will always recognize an artist's freedom to express him or herself, but not when reckless things are said no matter what the context. Unfortunately, Tracy's comments reflect negatively on both '30 Rock' and NBC - two very all-inclusive and diverse organizations - and we have made it clear to him that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated."
Tracy reportedly said "if his son that was gay he better come home and talk to him like a man and not [he mimicked a gay, high pitched voice] or he would pull out a knife and stab that little N (one word I refuse to use) to death" when doing a stand-up gig in Nashville recently. He was also alleged saying that "gay was something kids learn from the media and programming."
The comedian has since offered his apology via several media outlets. Part of his statement read, "I want to apologize to my fans and the gay & lesbian community for my choice of words at my recent stand-up act in Nashville. I'm not a hateful person and don't condone any kind of violence against others."
