Louis CK Defends Tracy Morgan: ‘Nobody gets to say that they represent anybody and they’re offended on behalf of the whole world.’

Well I’ve said a lot of things that were worse than what he said. I have my things that make it OK for people when I say them. I have my irony and different levels that I’m working at, so that makes it OK for people around me, for people that come to my shows. And people heard this Tracy shit mostly third-hand. He didn’t stand on a public stage and say this stuff. He didn’t make these announcements: “Here, America, are my views.” Where you say something makes a huge difference about what you say and what it means and what you let yourself say.There’s a lot of times when I let myself channel bad ideas as a way to do comedy. I think it’s something that’s a healthy thing to do, honestly. And I think the person who really fucked people up and hurt people with Tracy’s words was whoever took it out of that Nashville club and put it on the national stage—whoever called Huffington Post or whoever started this shit, and said, “Guess what Tracy Morgan said,” and announced it to the rest of the world. He wasn’t trying to say it to the rest of the world. So when I read stuff like, How are gay people going to feel when they read this? Well they didn’t have to read it! They weren’t part of that show. Maybe there were gay people there who were laughing. You don’t fucking know. Nobody gets to say that they represent anybody and they’re offended on behalf of the whole world.

In an interview with Slate, Louis CK defends Tracy Morgan at length for his recent controversy-sparking jokes about homosexuality. He makes some strong points, although I will say that unless the material quoted is taken very significantly out of context, I’m not sure how it could have been construed as anything but offensive. Still, he does deserve the benefit of the doubt, no?

The whole interview is worth checking out for fans of CK.

Louis CK Defends Tracy Morgan: ‘Nobody gets to say […]