Shuter speaks with out MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts, who appears in the episode, and reveals details about the plot. “Well, you know how a lot of their episodes mirror their lives … They’ve incorporated [Morgan's rant] into the Tracy Jordan storyline,” says Roberts.
“Liz Lemon writes Tracy’s apology on the show and says he’s not a homophobe, he’s an idiot. That offends idiots, so while NBC is being picketed by the LBGT community, now it’s also being picketed by idiots led by Denise Richards. She’s the leader of the idiots.”
Last June 30 Rock creator Tina Fey said that while she found Morgan’s words disturbing, “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. Morgan apologized for his routine, in which he joked about killing his son if he was too effeminate. “I want to apologize to my fans and the gay & lsbn community for my choice of words at my recent stand-up act in Nashville,” he said in a statement issued to The Advocate. “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.”
