My head has been swimming ever since once-lovable, possibly-crazy dude Tracy Morgan said some pretty horrible things about the gays. Is it still possible to be amused by a goofball’s antics once you know that part of his quirkiness extends to hateful, bigoted thoughts? I don’t know the answer to that. It’s something I’ll have to explore with time. But I do owe a debt of gratitude to Huffington Post for posting My Big Fat Greek Wedding director Nia Vardalos’ response to the controversy.Turns out, she’s against homophobia. And you can tell she believes this is a serious issue, because she uses. A lot. Of Periods. To make. Her point.
There are reports that while some were angry, many people in the audience that evening, laughed.
That offends me. And, worries me. We live in an unsafe world. There are children and adults who go to school and work every day, knowing there are people who feel the same way as Tracy Morgan. They now know there was an audience who did not stand up and walk out when a man talked about stabbing his son if that child revealed himself to be gay. Stabbing. His son.
Offended AND worried. Someone write this down. With pencils. On paper. Possibly pen.
So, that’s it? We get a few statements from the people who work with him, and we all forget about it?
Not this time.
I want more. And, I respectfully request more. Much more.
When does the hate against our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, end?
Sure, a writer or comedian riffing, working out material, often goes to strange and dark places. Editing is discouraged, because part of the journey is surprise and discovery. But what we discovered about Tracy Morgan is deeply disturbing.
He is homophobic.
His employers now know this about him. And, I don’t think he should simply be vilified and shunned. Nor, just apologized for. I am optimistic wonderful Tina Fey and the brilliant writers won’t just reference it on the show in a cute and sweet way, thus dealing with the incident with a wink and a nod. I hope NBC does more than issue a statement.
What I’m yearning for is simple: we’ve discovered Tracy Morgan has a problem, and now he needs help. There must be some result, more than a few apologies. Maybe this is a way to open the dialogue. Maybe sensitivity training. It happened. Let’s address it and learn from it. [Huffington Post]
She wants more than a cheap apology. Dammit, NBC! The Nias Vardalos of the world aren’t going to take this lying down! She wants to see some real consequences. Some real solutions. Like a company-mandated sensitivity training. And maybe if that doesn’t work, we can start a group called “Tracy Morgan should stop being homophobic!” on Facebook. If it gets a million likes, Gwyneth Paltrow can play a benefit concert. Thank you, Huffington Post, for publishing this important editorial.