After it was reported last Friday that comedian Tracy Morgan delivered a homophobic rant during a recent comedy show in Nashville, Tenn., the “30 Rock” star has now issued an apology for his controversial statements.
The apology, which was sent to The Huffington Post on Friday via a representative, reads:
“I want to apologize to my fans and the gay and lesbian community for my choice of words at my recent stand-up act in Nashville,” Morgan said. “I’m not a hateful person and don’t condone any kind of violence against others. While I am an equal opportunity jokester, and my friends know what is in my heart, even in a comedy club this clearly went too far and was not funny in any context.”
And while many are still debating over Morgan’s rant, fellow funnyman, Chris
Rock, weighed in on the incident and Morgan’s apology. On Saturday, Rock wrote on his Twitter page, “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to live in world where Tracy Morgan can’t say foul, inappropriate s–t.”
Sensing that his comment might be misleading, before making an appearance at the Tony awards as a presenter, Rock again took to Twitter and explained that he disapproved of Morgan’s homophobic statements.
“Tracy Morgan is a tad off, we all know that,” tweeted Rock. “So when Tracy says something I usually don’t take it anymore serious than I would a statement from Gary Busey or Flavor Flav. When I first heard the statement I thought it was offensive, but it also reminded me of my father saying I’ll kill you if you ever bring home a white girl. But after reading everything Tracy said, [I thought], ‘wow I get it, that s–t wasn’t called for and I don’t support it at all.’ ”
Rock jokingly added, “Now can I please go to the tony awards without getting my a– kicked.”
Morgan’s “30 Rock” co-star, Tina Fey, who is also the show’s creator, writer and executive producer, also weighed in on Morgan’s rant in 
a statement to TMZ on June 10, expressing her disappointment in him and explaining why he has some more apologizing to do.
“The violent imagery of Tracy’s rant was disturbing to me at a time when homophobic hate crimes continue to be a life-threatening issue for the LGBT community,” she said. “It also doesn’t line up with the Tracy Morgan I know, who is not a hateful man and is generally much too sleepy and self-centered to ever hurt another person.”
“I hope for his sake that Tracy’s apology will be accepted as sincere by his gay and lesbian co-workers at ’30 Rock,’ without whom Tracy would not have lines to say, clothes to wear, sets to stand on, scene partners to act with, or a printed-out paycheck from accounting to put in his pocket,” Fey added.
It looks like Morgan has a bit farther to travel on his road to redemption. –nicholas robinson
