Tracy Morgan Has Officially Apologized for His Anti-Gay Rant. Was It Enough?

Tracy Morgan indulged an ugly side of his psyche when he went on an anti-gay riff in Nashville a couple weeks ago. As relayed in a Facebook post by gay audience member Kevin Rogers that quickly went viral, the routine started with insinuations that all gays are gay by choice (because “God don’t make no mistakes”) and went on to make light of the anti-gay bullying that’s dominated headlines this year. Morgan didn’t stop there, though—he entered seriously dark, demented territory, saying, according to Rogers, that if his son was gay "he better come home and talk to me like a man" and not [Morgan mimicked a high-pitched voice], or he would pull out a knife and stab that little N [one word I refuse to use] to death. Morgan then said he "didn't f--king care" if he pissed off some gays, because "if they can take a f--king d-ck up their a--... they can take a f--king joke."

I repeat all of this just as a reminder that the routine wasn’t merely some off-color humor poking fun at gay people. It was a downright hateful and ugly string of thoughts. Morgan's comments were offensive enough to earn sternly worded condemnations from both Tina Fey and NBC head Robert Greenblatt.

Morgan returned to Nashville today to deliver an apology and statement of support for the LGBT community. Next to him was Rogers, and a representative from GLAAD, the gay media advocacy group who arranged this press conference. (It bears mentioning that GLAAD's repeat logo branding on the backdrop made the entire thing seem more than a little coerced.) Rogers explained he had “always assumed Tracy was an ally to the LGBT community,” making his shock over the routine all the greater. Then Morgan said he wanted to “apologize to Kevin and the people at the show for bumming them out. I want to apologize to my friends, family, and fans and every community who were offended with this. I didn’t know. I didn’t mean it. That’s how I feel about it. I don’t have a hateful bone in my body … I don’t care who you love, same sex or not. As long as you have the ability to love, that’s the important thing here.”