Tracy Morgan's Anti-Gay Rant-Free Speech or Fire?

Comedian/actor Tracy Morgan recently made some very controversial anti-gay jokes in his stand-up act last week in Nashville stating that he would stab his son if were gay. He went on to say that “being gay is a choice”, and that gay youth who are bullied "should stop whining about it." Wow! Was he on some kind of crazed adrenaline buzz from drinking Four Loko, or just stupid? My guess is the latter. Morgan has since apologized.

“I want to apologize to my fans and the gay and 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. 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.”

But are these words (obviously co-crafted by his publicist) enough? At a time when we are becoming more and more aware of the despair of young people who are being shamed for being gay, in addition to the continued discrimination against the gay community, comments like these are irresponsible. And for a black man to make such vicious comments about the idea of his black son being gay doesn’t do anything to help the ongoing issues with homophobia in the black community; more specifically the black church.

This latest lapse in judgment by a comedian has again raised the question of “Does anything go when it comes to comedy?” I asked a twitter buddy of mine, Ryan J. Davis (@RyanNewYork), an openly gay theater director/producer who also writes about politics for The Huffington Post and The Hill about his thoughts.

"Comedians certainly have the right to say anything, but they should be aware of their social responsibility. Tracy Morgan is hugely popular and his comments carry added weight with young people. More importantly, I fear his comments betray his true feelings and he needs more than a semi-serious apology to right this wrong. He needs to write a big check to GLAAD or GLSEN to begin his path toward recovery."

These are my sentiments exactly, and have been echoed by others. Wanda Sykes, a comedian and a married lesbian tweeted her response to Morgan’s jokes. “…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.” Uh, not exactly the most succinct statement, but we get the gist. Chris Rock initially offered his support of Morgan’s right to freedom of speech in his act tweeting, “I don’t know about you but i don’t want to live in world where Tracy Morgan can’t say foul inappropriate shit.” He later tweeted, “…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.” (You can practically hear the brakes on the bike screeching to a halt from all that back peddling!)

Yeah Rock knows where his bread is buttered in Hollywood and was smart enough to offer a counter reaction. And though Morgan has been in the business long enough to know what will fly and what won’t, Rock may need to school this brother on the politics of going from being a relatively successful comedian to being featured on a top rated critically acclaimed network show, 30 Rock created by mega media mogul Tina Fey! (And she ain’t having this kind of foolishness associated with her brand-period.) Morgan isn’t the first comedian to cross the line and he won’t be the last, but in the digital age more and more people are getting “caught out there” and having to face consequences. (Just ask Anthony Weiner.)

We all remember in 2006 when Michael Richards (Kramer from Seinfeld) went off and verbally attacked hecklers with a racist rant. Um, have we heard from him since? Nope. And it wasn’t that long ago that Gilbert Gottfried lost his Aflac gig after making extremely distasteful and insensitive remarks on Twitter about the tsunami/earthquake in Japan.

The difference in these situation versus Morgan’s is that Morgan was quick to offer an apology, whether he realized he should answer to his remarks on his own, or if he was in fact prompted by his PR person or possibly NBC. (I wouldn’t be surprised if it was revealed that Morgan got a call from the peacock itself!) Morgan didn’t stand behind free speech to justify his remarks or slink away from the controversy as did Richards and Gottfried. But seeing how NBC Broadcasting Chairman Robert Greenblatt is gay, and deemed Morgan’s remarks “disturbing”, Morgan would want to learn how to play this showbiz game with way more finesse. As there are those who viewed Morgan’s remarks inappropriate, there are some who defend Morgan’s right to free speech in the name of comedy, regardless of the political ramifications.

Media personality Roland Martin tweeted, “Why is comedian and “30 Rock” star Tracy Morgan issuing a mea culpa for saying nasty things during a stand-up routine? Isn’t that par for the course of a comedian?” Whoopi Goldberg, who’s built a reputation for being not only a good female comedian, but a legendary comic, consistently defends a comic’s right to free speech on The View, as does Joy Behar. But even Behar took issue with Morgan’s comments stating on the talk show, “You don’t attack the un-powerful.” I agree with co-host Sherri Shepherd, who did stand-up for many years before joining The View, and portrays Morgan's wife on 30 Rock and maintains that one does need to adopt a certain sense of social and personal responsibility even in the vein of comedy. I mean after all, even Richard Pryor stopped using the n-word.

I’ve definitely laughed at comedic remarks that were inappropriate, but there’s a difference between laughing because a joke rings true and cringing because it feels unnecessarily mean-spirited-unless it’s a Comedy Central celebrity roast! What constitutes what’s funny and what’s over the top is the same type of reasoning of how to differentiate art from pornography; you know it when you see it.

This complicated debate over a comedian’s right to a no-holds-barred performance, and more specifically free speech will continue. But I hope that there will be an elevated level of consciousness regarding what’s humorous and what’s harmful. I love a good laugh, but not when it exploits the exploited. And a good comedian shouldn’t have to resort to making unwarranted, vulgar, discriminatory and incendiary attacks on groups of people to get a laugh.

What do you think about Tracy Morgan’s comments and a comedian’s right to free speech?