LOS ANGELES — Tracy Morgan apologized Friday after
coming under fire for anti-gay remarks he made during a stand-up
performance in Nashville last week.
“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,” Morgan said in a statement. “I’m not a hateful person and
don’t condone any kind of violence against others. While I am an equal
opportunity jokester, and my friends know what is in my heart, even in a
comedy club this clearly went too far and was not funny in any
context.”
Morgan’s remarks were slammed around the Web and by
groups like the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and Human
Rights Campaign. It all stemmed from a Facebook post (“Why I No Longer
‘Like’ Tracy Morgan — A Must Read” (Warning: contains profanity))
written by an audience member, Kevin Rogers, who attended the June 3
Nashville show. In it, Rogers details Morgan’s anti-gay tirade, which
included the “Saturday Night Live” alum saying he’d “pull out a knife
and stab” his son if he were gay and talked in a high-pitched voice.
It wasn’t long before the comments drew criticism.
GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios said: “Tracy Morgan’s
management needs to investigate these allegations and should they prove
true, we call on him to remove these violently anti-gay remarks from
his show and send a strong message that anti-gay violence is not
something to joke about.”
The Human Rights Campaign, a lesbian, gay and
transgender civil rights organization, also joined in the condemnation
and called on the actor to issue an apology. Following Morgan’s
statement Friday, though, the organization said the comedian needed to
do more.
“Tracy Morgan exercised extremely poor judgment and
he did the right thing by apologizing,” said Fred Sainz, HRC vice
president for communications. “But that’s just not enough. He’s a role
model and Morgan now has a responsibility to make amends for his
horribly hurtful and dangerous ‘comedy’ routine. He also needs to go
further than his apology and correct the record: No one should feel
ashamed because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and they
should definitely not become a victim of violence. Words have
consequences and Morgan should be held to a higher standard. Until he
does something meaningful, his brand will remain tarnished.”
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