Late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien
has apologized for a transgender joke he made during his Tuesday
monologue on cabler TBS' Conan.
O'Brien took his show to Chicago, where
he referred to Chicago as “the city of the big shoulders,” then
joked that it “was better than the name they almost went with …
'the unconvincing tranny.'”
People.com online editor Janet Mock,
who came out transgender last year in
an It Gets Better video, chided O'Brien on Twitter.
“@ConanOBrien You're better than you
'unconvincing tr*nny' bit You've deeply offended a fan who's trans.”
Actress Jamie Clayton, who played the
role of Kyla on season 3 of the HBO series Hung, also knocked
O'Brien's joke.
“I used to LOVE @ConanOBrien. Now,
after he used the 'T' word, not so much. Come on Conan, be a man and
apologize to all the #GirlsLikeUs.”
O'Brien apologized in a statement given
to GLAAD.
“My staff and I had no idea that term
was offensive to the transgender community,” he said. “We
apologize and you will not be hearing that term again.”