Comedian Tracy Morgan has landed in hot water after homophobic comments last week during one of his stand-up routines. Activist groups are demanding apologies and people are up in arms about what he said, but comedians don't really need to apologize for not being very funny.
Morgan, who is already known for being a homophobic freak show, went on and on about how being gay is a choice and how he would stab his son if he came home and said he was gay. To be sure, Tracy Morgan is the bonafide King of the Losers. I have no interest in having dinner with him. His comments make me want to hurl, but he is also a comedian.
His job is to be funny, right? So when he's not funny, the only person he is hurting is himself. Of course, part of being funny is pushing the envelope and saying the things everyone thinks but no one says. Well guess what Tracy? You're on your own on this one.
Comedians don't owe anyone an apology when they go too far. And everyone could be offended by something a comedian says at some point. There are some taboos that most people won't find funny -- these include the Holocaust, 9/11, and slavery -- but you know what? Given the right joke, maybe they could be.
Does anyone remember that line in The Hangover where Zach Galifianakis says, "They gave out rings at the Holocaust?" It was funny, right? But it danced on the edge. Too far over that line and people could have been super offended -- and with good reason. No one is saying that homosexuals shouldn't be offended. But they also shouldn't expect an apology.
Tracy Morgan is a homophobe who also happens to be funny enough to land a major role on 30 Rock. This doesn't make him some kind of expert in homosexuality. His comedy routine is his own to do with as he pleases. If he isn't funny, the only person he hurts is himself.
There are tons of comedians who joke about being handicapped and being religious and a host of other things that anyone could be offended by at any point. Sarah Silverman is hilarious, but Jesus Is Magic probably offended some people. But so what? Isn't comedy supposed to offend?
When we all sit around and whine demanding apologies, we really don't get anywhere. If we want to really hurt Morgan, let's hurt him where it counts. Stop watching his show. Stop buying tickets to his stand-up routines.
This is a man who thinks it's funny to joke about stabbing his son because he is gay. This isn't a reasonable, intelligent human being. So what good would an apology do? Morgan can joke about whatever he wants all day long. He can think it's funny. It's his right.
But it's our right to make it clear it's not funny at all. If you hate gays, then dude, we hate you.
Do you think an apology will help?
Image via NBC
This Hot Dad Wants to Do Your Ironing
This Hot Dad Wants to Cook You Dinner
This Hot Dad Cooks AND Does the Dishes
Kanye West is Gay?! 
Comments 29
I think he should appologize to his son. You're supposed to love your children unconditionally, not threaten to kill them if they are born a way that you don't like.
Yeah, what Jen said. It's one thing to be a bigoted ass, it's another to effectively condone violence against a group of people (especially using harm to your own child to illustrate that) who are so often the target of real violence.
Also, how old is his son? I hope he's not young enough to be/or in the custody of Mr. Morgan.
This idea that a person has no control over it surely isn't exactly accurate.
I assume you mean that gays have that compulsion.
Humans have many compulsions, many of which they hopefully are able to control.
The insinuation that homosexuality is biological is scientifically unproven.
We all owe it to the world to be truthful about the issue and to not make pronouncements about the what caused homosexuality that we cannot prove one way or the other.
If we're really concerned about the human condition, we would at least do that.
Anything else is selfish.
@ mustbeGRACE...When did you choose to be straight? Why don't you try and overcome that compulsion, eh? If homosexuals can overcome these "compulsions" and force themselves to have sexual relationships with people of the opposite sex then it must be possible for you to force yourself to have sexual relationships with the same sex, right?
oh, wait...That's ludicrous, isn't it?
The idea that environmental influences play no role in human development is what is ludicrous.
Sexuality is a part of human development.
It is selfish of the homosexual community to discount early psychosocial experiences in the development of homosexuality.
It's irresponsible to ignore those and one reason gays and lesbians have a difficult time garnering credibility and support for their "cause".
When someone says that they are a lesbian and reveals childhood sexual abuse and the gay/lesbian community refuses to even consider the two to be related, the outside, mainstream world at large immediately stops hearing.
Suppose a man grows up in a household with a single mom and three sisters and later admits to being gay.
For no one to ask if the outcome might have been different if there had been a man in the house is stupid and selfish.
The gay community deserves scorn for not even considering that this scenario is a possible reason AND for not saying so.
Wow. That's insane. Please explain all the people who are attracted to the same sex who weren't abused or raised in households with only the opposite gender since you seem to have all the answers.
Or maybe you can also explain the people who aren't homosexuals who were abused or lived in households with only the same sex. My friend with five brothers who lost her mom when when was very young will be interested to hear that she should be a lesbian by your reasoning...