Nearly three years after he was
criticized for making anti-gay jokes, comedian Tracy Morgan
reiterates that he would be okay if his son was gay.
During a 2011 stand up routine, Morgan
condoned anti-gay bullying and said he would stab his son to death if
he found he was gay. Morgan, who is best known for his work on 30
Rock and Saturday Night Live, subsequently apologized for
his rant.
(Related: Tracy
Morgan apologizes for anti-gay jokes.)
Morgan briefly touched on the episode
in an interview with The
New York Times.
“When you see national incidents that
involve race, do you feel the need to comment on them in your act?”
the Times asked.
“I think so. A stand-up's job is to
hold the mirror up to society and to look at what we're afraid of.
That's why we had shows like All in the Family and The
Jeffersons. We made fun of ourselves then. Nowadays people take
themselves way too seriously,” Morgan answered.
“Is that what happened in 2011 …?”
“That's what I thought I was doing,
but it was taken out of context. No matter what, if my son was gay,
I'd treat him like a king. I wasn't trying to say that's how I
felt.”
“I learned that things are different
now,” he said of the incident. “Would Richard Pryor be able to
survive now? Would George Carlin be able to survive now? Would Sam
Kinison be able to survive now? Would Lenny Bruce be able to survive
now? I don't know. Everybody is supersensitive. We have freedom of
speech, but you got to watch what you say.”