Tracy Morgan Is a Scumbag, or: Why I'll Never Watch '30 Rock' Again

So, we're heading into the last two weeks of rehearsals for Die Mommie Die! and I've been getting home too late to post the last few nights. But yesterday I read something that really upset and angered me, and I had to share it with you.

I love Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. I've adored Jane Krakowski ever since I saw her in the  2003 Broadway revival of Nine. But I've never found Tracy Morgan to be particularly funny or talented. Even his best work on SNL paled in comparison to some of the real break-outs. So I was puzzled when Fey brought him, of all the comedians she could have chosen, along for the ride with "30 Rock." Still, even though I was never able to watch the show with any true regularity, I usually enjoyed it when I did manage to catch it, despite Morgan's presence.

Then yesterday, a friend of a friend posted the Facebook note I am about to quote verbatim, and it just made my blood boil. Kevin Rogers went to see Morgan's stand-up show. This is how he tells it:

"So tonight was the night, Tracy Morgan in the hallowed halls of the Ryman Auditorium.  I always giggle a little bit when I think that the legends of country music must be rolling over in their graves knowing that there are raunchy comics on their stage.   I've been a big fan of his since his days at SNL.  The show was your typical hysterical dick, cum and pussy humor... I have to say it was hilarious and well worth at least 40% of the $86 we spent per ticket to see him.  I figured at some point the gay jokes would fly and I'm well prepared for a good ribbing of straight gay humor.  I have very thick skin when it comes to humor; I can dish and I can take.  What I can't take is when Mr. Morgan took it upon himself to mention about how he feels all this gay shit was crazy and that women are a gift from God and that "Born this Way" is bullshit, gay is a choice, and the reason he knows this is exactly because "God don't make no mistakes" (referring to God not making someone gay cause that would be a mistake).  He said that there is no way a woman could love and have sexual desire for another woman, that's just a woman pretending because she hates a fucking man.  He took time to visit the bullshit of this bullying stuff and informed us that the gays needed to quit being pussies and not be whining about something as insignificant as bullying. He mentioned that gay was something kids learn from the media and programming, and that bullied kids should just bust some ass and beat those other little fuckers that bully them, not whine about it.  He said if his son that was gay he better come home and talk to him like a man and not [he mimicked a gay, high pitched voice] or he would pull out a knife and stab that little N (one word I refuse to use) to death. He mentioned that Barack Obama needed to man up and quit being all down with this just because he has a wife and two daughters.  All of this being followed by thunderous cheer and "You go Tracys".  Tracy then said he didn't fucking care if he pissed off some gays, because if they can take a fucking dick up their ass... they can take a fucking joke.

"The sad thing is that none of this rant was a joke.  His entire demeanor changed during that portion of the night.  He was truly filled with some hate towards us.  As far as I could see 10 to 15 people walked out.  I had to fight myself to stay seated, but I knew if I got up... he won.  He wanted to piss people off and get a rise.  I didn't let him win by chasing me off, he surely didn't get any applause or laughter from me after that point - mainly because he was no longer funny to me.  I wasn't holding back, it just wasn't funny.  I won't even get started on his rant about how women should be home cooking him a fucking meal and not becoming CEOs or him talking about fucking the moms of retards.  

"Once again, I can take a joke.  I find all sorts of things that are inappropriate funny.  Life is too serious to not laugh and enjoy some humor.  I now no longer enjoy Tracy Morgan's humor.  It's sad that I now have to take some inventory of my love of "30 Rock".

"I'm not angry... just very very very disappointed.

 

"BY THE WAY... FEEL FREE TO SHARE with all of your friends!"

Uncle P here again.

I have to give Kevin credit -- not that I would have been there in the first place, but had I been, I most definitely would have walked out. Morgan's disgusting, ill-informed and hate-filled tirade makes me so angry I could spit. And the fact that the very gay-friendly Fey and Baldwin* are willing to share airtime with that pig just makes me sad. So, goodbye "30 Rock." I enjoyed what I saw, but I cannot in good conscience ever watch you again. I hope none of you will, either. And, as Kevin suggests, please share this with everyone you know.

*Baldwin recently made a "Fight Back New York" pro-same-sex marriage video. Why, Alec, would you then associate and work with a creep like Morgan?

Here's a quick last look at one of the show's better moments:

Back to our usual nonsense, soon.


More, anon.
Prospero

Update: Today, June 10th, Morgan issued an apology. I'm not surprised, but I think it's a case of  'Too Little; Too Late.' The damage has been done and I still will never watch any show he's on or see any movie he's in.

P

The Gayest Thing You'll See This Week?

Uncle P is not a sports fan by even the broadest definition of the term. I'll watch Olympic diving or gymnastics for about 10 minutes before becoming completely bored, no matter how hot the guys are. I understand the rules of baseball and American football. I know that soccer is 90 minutes of neither team scoring. And while I have played a game or two of Horse in my youth, I was really more interested in playing "Horsie" (if you catch my meaning -- nudge, nudge; wink, wink).

The Philadelphia region just hosted a major college rugby event, which was (from what I've seen on our local news) a huge hit. Rugby is sort of like American football, without the padding. Players often leave the field bruised and bloodied, which is apparently how they like it. And while I love Ben Cohen and his efforts to promote tolerance both here and in the UK, I'd honestly much rather watch him shower than play (TMI?). 

So when I came across the video embedded below on Towleroad, I knew I had to share. Apparently the Toronto Gay Rugby Club is looking to recruit new members and they've put together this video in an effort to do so. Ladies and Germs, I give you "The Gay Who Wasn't Gay Enough:"

Can I be the on-site medic? I'm very good at kissing boo-boos...

More, anon.
Prospero

Super 8

I didn't get to see X-Men: First Class this weekend, though I am hoping to do so, soon. But I'm really much more excited to see J.J. Abrams' new film opening next weekend: Super 8.

Abrams created the amazing TV series "Lost," and directed the 2009 re-boot Star Trek, an entertaining (if uneven) origins movie that reset Gene Roddenberry's original time line.

Legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg produced Super 8, which features a cast of mostly unknown (except for Elle Fanning) youngsters, along with hottie Kyle Chandler (King Kong; "Friday Night Lights"); Ron Eldard (Blackhawk Down) and Bruce Greenwood (Dinner for Schmucks; Star Trek). 

Super 8 is the story of a group of young filmmakers in 1979 who witness a train wreck while shooting a movie in their small town. On board the train is something being transported from the notorious Area 51, which proceeds to wreck havoc on said small town.

I've been very excited to see this movie since the first teasers hit cinemas last fall and I really hope the former and current Wunderkinds are able to deliver the kind of movie we've all come to expect from them.

So I am issuing a challenge to my movie-loving friends: Q, Dale, D & K - are ya'll up to seeing this one with me? I can't imagine anyone else (except my sister, who is just too far away) with whom I'd want to see this one. Are you all in?

More, anon.

Prospero

The Most Divine Thing You'll See This Week

Those of you born after after the 1970's have probably only seen Divine as Edna Turnblad* in John Waters' most successful (and most mainstream) film, Hairspray. The photo on your left, however, is from what is probably Divine's most notorious role, Babs Johnson in Waters' 1972 cult hit Pink Flamingos, the story of a competition to find the "Filthiest Family in the World." Flamingos features Divine performing an act so depraved, I won't even mention it here (if you know the film or its reputation, you know what I'm talking about). Now, Uncle P may ask his actors to do some outrageous things -- and they usually trust me enough to do them -- but I can't see me asking anyone to do what Waters asked Divine to do. And if I did, they'd all say "You have finally gone too far!" (They'd probably say something else, but I try to keep it as clean as I can here at the Revenge). 

Born Harris Glenn Milstead in Baltimore, MD in 1945, Divine found his true calling when Milstead met outre filmmaker John Waters in the 1960's. Divine was often the star of Waters' films, appearing in movies with titles like Mondo Trasho; Multiple Maniacs; Female Trouble and Polyester,  playing characters with names like 'Francine Fishpaw' and 'Hilly Blue.' And while Divine would work with other directors like Paul Bartell (Eating Raoul), it was Hairspray that finally brought Divine to the attention of Hollywood. Sadly, Milstead passed away of an enlarged heart at the age of 42 in 1988, one night before he was to tape an appearance on Fox's trashy sitcom "Married... with Children."

Now, director Jeffrey Schwarz has a new documentary coming out next year, chronicling the life and career f the bigger than life drag performer, appropriately titled I Am Divine. The first teaser just hit the web and you know I had to share. Please enjoy (via):

Of course, my favorite Divine-inspired moment has to be this sketch from SCTV, featuring the late John Candy as Divine as Peter Pan:

Hilarious.

Divine had a short, but legendary career as an actor and Disco singer and will always have a special place in the hearts of fans of weird cinema everywhere...

*A role Uncle P will be taking on in the stage musical version next spring... Oy!

More, anon.
Prospero

Later This Summer...

Sorry about last night... I'm sure you all have been that tired. But I'm sort of glad I waited, because it gave me a chance to add something to what I wanted to talk about, anyway...

 

Two new trailers have surfaced for movies Uncle P is very excited to see. 

Scheduled for release on August 5th is Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a prequel to 1968's Planet of the Apes. It stars the busiest man in Hollywood, James Franco as a scientist who develops a drug intended to repair brain damage, which accidentally results in the creation of a super-intelligent chimp named Caesar. Borrowing from the sequels to the movie based on a novel by Pierre Boulle, Rise... re-imagines the origins of the Ape Revolution originally portrayed in 1973's Battle for the Planet of the Apes. Andy Serkis dusts off his ape skills (last displayed in Peter Jackson's 2005 remake of King Kong) as Caesar, while Harry Potter's Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy); original Hannibal Lecter, Brian Cox; Slumdog Millionaire's Freida Pinto; Tyler Labine and John Lithgow co-star in what will be either an incredibly awesome or exceptionally lame attempt to reboot a franchise that even former wunderkind Tim Burton couldn't revive.

August 26th sees the release of Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, a big screen remake of an ABC Movie-of-the-Week that scared the hell out of Uncle P's sister when we were kids. The original movie starred Kim Darby (True Grit; Better Off Dead) and Jim Hutton ("Ellery Queen") as a couple who inherit her grandfather's old house and the nasty little critters who live behind the furnace grate in the basement. My sister says this movie is the reason she still sleeps with a night light. The remake, written and produced by Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth) stars Katie Holmes (Tom Cruise's hypno-vict... er, wife) and Guy Pearce (Memento; Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) and Bailee Madison ("The Wizards of Waverly Place") as the little demons' object of desire. I've already made D promise to see it with me, though he says he's seen the trailer a dozen times and it still scares him.

I almost wish I could see it with D on one side of me and my sister on the other - or maybe not... I like my arms right where they belong...

More, anon.
Prospero

Nothing New Tonight

 

See that cute baby sleeping there? I wish that was me. I am so tired, I could cry. So I am begging off for tonight. 

I hope you sleep as well as this cutie appears to be. I hope I will, too.

Good night! Sleep tight! Don't let the bedbugs bite! 

Ew! My mom said that to me a lot when I was a kid. 

I suppose I should leave you with something. How about this interview with Armistead Maupin and Jake Shears about the upcoming musical version of "Tales From the City?" (via): 

Now there's a show I'd go out of my way to see...

More, anon.
Prospero

June = Pride

Happy Pride Month!

June is Gay Pride Month here in the U.S. (and many other places, as well) and if I wasn't busy trying to get a show up and running, I'd be attending every Pride event I could. Of course, the scheduling of the Annual JTMF Benefit show during Pride is no accident.

It's also no accident that Pride is celebrated in June. On June 28th, 1969, the Stonewall Riots took place in response to an unwarranted police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City's Greenwich Village.  The Stonewall was a notorious Mafia-owned bar in the Village where gay men were actually allowed to dance, albeit in black-painted rooms with dim lighting. It s often mistakenly noted that many of those at the Stonewall that night were gathered to mourn the loss of Gay Icon Judy Garland, who passed away on June 22nd of that year.

Regardless of why they were there, it is commonly accepted that the Stonewall raid and subsequent riot were the start of the Gay Rights movement in the U.S. And while great strides in LGBTQ rights have been made over the past 41 years, we still have a long way to go.

Recently, several high-profile sports figures have come out publicly and just today, the San Francisco Giants baseball team released their own "It Gets Better" video. Things are finally really starting to progress for our community, even while hate groups like the FRC and NOM continue to spew their anti-gay rhetoric wherever and whenever they can get people to listen. Of course, the latest generation of young Americans are onto these creeps, and I am happy to predict that they and their ideals will be seen as sad, lonely dinosaurs within the decade.

You can see the Giants' video below (via), followed by the JTMF "It Gets Better" clip:

I wish all of my readers (gay; straight; bisexual; transgendered; inter-sexed or otherwise queer) a happy Pride Month and urge you to not only participate in your local Pride events, but to continue to write your legislators and demand that they address equality issues. Together, we can eradicate intolerance in our lifetime.

More, anon.
Prospero