As I am sure most of you know, Tracy Morgan - former SNL star who currently has a role on 30 Rock - made some crude and hateful homophobic remarks during a stand-up routine in Nashville. Some highlights from the "homophobic rant" - as it is now called - include such statements as:

1. Lady Gaga/Born This Way is complete bullshit because being gay is a choice and God don't make no mistakes

2. If his sons came home and told him they were gay, he would kill them

3. Bullied kids need to stop being pussies, man up, and kick the crap out of the people that are attempting to bully them.

Apparently a gay member of the audience went home from the show and shared on facebook his disgust with Morgan's set causing others to take notice. Fellow cast members disapproved of Morgan's sentiments but ultimately shared that Morgan does not truly feel this way and there is not a hateful bone in his body. Oddly enough, shortly after making such fervent remarks, Morgan has renounced his homophobic ways, is doing PSAs with GLAAD, and actively supporting gay marriage - so much so that he said that he would LOVE for his sons to come home and tell him that they were gay. Does this seem odd to anyone else?Taken from the Huffington Post

Now, I am full-figured, gay, ginger, drag queen and therefore can take and dish out jokes with the best of them. One of my favorite comedic all-stars is the brass and incredibly vulgar Lisa Lampanelliwho has a way of offending every single marginalized group in the world, without people being offended by it.  However, audience members present at the Nashville show relate that Morgan's demeanor and disposition changed when he got to this part of the set; he seemed angrier. So, from a casual observer as myself, it seems that Morgan truly has some hatred for queer people whether that hatred is conscious or subconscious. Also, that perhaps his atonement is a form of "damage control" knowing that many cast, crew and fans of 30 Rock are in fact queer. It seems a little too orchestrated and a little too inauthentic. I do not see how an individual can dramatically have such a shift in paradigm; I know from the social justice work I have done that that kind of hatred is formed over years of experiences and messages drilled into your brain and takes years to overcome your privilege and recognized the institutions of injustice in place. Morgan ended the piece by stating that because gay men can take a dick up the ass, they can take a joke. Well Mr. Morgan, I do both quite well, but there is a considerable difference between a comic making a joke about gay people appropriating the rainbow for our personal agenda and advocating for violence, death, and murder to gay people ... slightly different. In a time where gay suicide, gay bullying, anti-gay legislation, anti-gay rhetoric are still a part of the everyday landscape of America - and the world -, I cannot believe that Morgan would not take two seconds to think about the potential ramifications of his actions.

For example; while perusing articles about the incident, I noticed a number of comments that pitted African Americans against gay people - although people forget sometimes that there are gay black people, but that is another conversation altogether. Once again, it became a debate between who is the most oppressed minority group in the history of the God-forsaken world - as if this were a pageant with a tiara at stake. The fact of the matter remains is that human history is filled to the brim with one group oppressing another group whether through legislation, wars, genocide, imprisonment, slavery or feeding them to lions. However, what will the group win that proves that they in fact are the most oppressed? Do they get a gold star? Do majority populations take notice and say "woah, you really have been treated unfairly, we are so sorry".

I know that deep down Tracy Morgan is not a bad person; he is just a person who made a mistake, didn't think about what he was saying nor the impact that it would have on others. Unfortunately Mr. Morgan decided to make such mistake on stage in front a theater full of people. In the future Mr. Morgan, recognize your constituent base and not alienate the gays ... especially when the joke is not funny in the first place.