Tracy Morgan, the 30 Rock star with a history of controversy, collapsed at a Sundance Film Festival event and was taken to a hospital last night. According to TMZ, he was "being honored at the Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards in Park City, Utah -- and sources tell TMZ, he appeared extremely intoxicated during his award acceptance speech."
Tracy Morgan Falls Unconscious, Collapses At Sundance
Video: Tracy Morgan Is Sort Of Sorry About That Ugly Homophobic Rant
Remember, just a few months ago, when Tracy Morgan was at the center of a pretty serious sh*itstorm over a nasty little homophobic rant during a stand-up act in Nashville? While he did issue a formal apology shortly after the incident, it turns out that people—like David Letterman—are still talking about it, much to Morgan's chagrin.
Chris Rock Backpedals After His Defense Of Tracy Morgan's Offensive Routine
After most of the world, including his 30 Rock co-star Tina Fey, pounced on comedian Tracy Morgan for his violent, homophobic routine at a recent show in Nashville, Chris Rock took to Twitter on Friday evening to defend Morgan's right to free speech and artistic integrity. He Tweeted: "I don't know about you but I don't want to live in world where Tracy Morgan cant say fail inappropriate shit." It didn't take long for GLAAD to chastise Rock for his defense, shooting back via Twitter, "Language about stabbing kids for being gay isn't 'foul.' It's dangerous." Now, Rock himself is backpedaling.
Tracy Morgan Apologizes For Violently Homophobic Stand-Up Routine
30 Rock star (and the only man alive who would have a fire in his fishtank) Tracy Morgan is at the center of a major firestorm over allegations that he went on an ugly homophobic rant at a Nashville show. According to audience member Kevin Rogers's epic Facebook note, titled "WHY I NO LONGER 'LIKE' Tracy Morgan—A MUST READ:"
Trump: "I Have Always Had A Great Relationship With The Blacks"
If you haven't gotten your fill of Donald Trump mockery yet today, Post editor (and noted Carl Paladino enthusiast) Fred Dicker did an interview with him this morning, which reporter Azi Paybarah was live tweeting here. Some highlights: Trump said "I want to run as a Republican. I don't want to run as an independent;" he scolded the Daily News for their coverage of him; and he declared proudly, "I have always had a great relationship with the blacks." Is Trump suddenly going to start spitting truth?
Tracy Morgan Does Not Object To Sarah Palin's Looks
Tracy Morgan got TNT all hot-and-bothered last night in a pre-game chat on Inside the NBA. The 30 Rock star was asked about Tina Fey and Sarah Palin's looks by Charles Barkley and company and explained in his best serious voice "Let me tell you something about Sarah Palin, she's good masturbation material."
Tracy Morgan Moves Fire-Starting Fish Tank From UWS
Tracy Morgan, whose fish tank in an ugly Trump Place rental sparked a fire (okay, the tank's lamp was the culprit) in his apartment, has put the Upper West Side chapter of his colorful life behind him. According to New York, he's moved into a "posh"-sounding place in the West 50s "with four bedrooms, three-and-a-half baths, private parking, and a 1,000-square-foot terrace with views of the city. It’s unclear what he’s paying, though the landlord was recently asking $14,900 a month, with no explicit rules about aquariums." Two words to all renters, not just ones who may be living next to Morgan: Renter's insurance.
Tracy Morgan At Barnes & Noble: "Depressing," "Inspiring"
Gawker readers weigh in on Tracy Morgan's Barnes & Noble appearance, for his new book I Am The New Black. One says, "Wow. I wasn't expecting him to dance like a monkey, but neither was I expecting to leave the bookstore depressed... At one point, while talking about his father and his mother, he broke down crying," while another says, "I left feeling slightly inspired. He spoke at length about how we need to interact more as a community, that we need to get off the computer and stop listening to our iPods and interact with fellow New Yorkers."
Tracy Morgan Finally Weighs in on Obama Peace Prize (Mayer Too!)
To promote his memoir I Am the New Black, Tracy Morgan has been answering questions from readers at Time magazine. One wanted to know what he thought about Barack Obama’s recent Nobel Peace Prize win. Morgan replied, "I think he deserves it. I think he’s really trying to stop nuclear war. I love Obama. You see how cool he is? You see the way he gets off of Air Force One? He kicks that leg just like Richard Roundtree. Ain’t no other countries gonna mess with us. And as far as health care is concerned, tell them to put cocoa butter on it. Those old remedies still work!"
Tracy Morgan Submits To Twitter—Updated
After a campaign to get 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan to join Twitter, he has finally joined—"His rep confirmed to Gossip Cop that he signed up this morning." His Twitter handle: RealTracyMorgan. First Tweet: "Welcome To Tracy Morgans World..." Aw, yeah—maybe now he can Twitter about his fish tanks (like imagine the Tweets he would have sent when they caught fire!) and whatever else pops into his mind.
Tracy Takes On 30 Rock Security to Host SNL
Tracy Morgan was back in the building last night to relive his SNL glory days as host of the show he was a cast member on for seven years. But getting through that NBC security has become no easy task since the anthrax scare of 2001. Just as he does with sometimes questionable material though, Morgan somehow found a way to make it work. Here's last night's SNL cold opening, which reminded us a little of Alec Donaghy's Hulu ad, and had cameos from WWE Superstar John Cena (who the audience didn't recognize) and Tina Fey (who now may have topped Jon Lovitz for most appearances by a former cast member in one season).
FDNY Puts Out Fish Tank Fire at Tracy Morgan's Apt. (Fish OK!)
Twenty-five FDNY units and 78 firefighters responded to a fire at Tracy Morgan's Upper West Side home. According to the Post, a blaze broke out in his apartment at the Trump Place development, apparently from a fish tank: "FDNY sources said it appeared that either a light attached to the tank shorted out or there was a problem with a water pump on the tank, sparking the fire." Morgan was not at home at the time and no one was injured (the fire was contained to Morgan's apartment), but the sprinklers did douse a number of apartments. Morgan's neighbor—and 30 Rock wife—View co-host Sherri Shepherd said her apartment was flooded and that her son and nanny evacuated—and her son made sure to take her wigs: She told him to "grab all Momma’s hair!” and proudly said, “He did! My baby knows! Can’t leave Momma’s hair!” (Gawker has video of Shepherd discussing the fire.) Update: Tracy Morgan released this statement: "A fire broke out in my Manhattan apartment this morning, apparently starting with a lamp attached to my fish tank. The sprinklers promptly activated and the NYFD came by to make sure it was contained
Fortunately, the fire did not spread and no one in the building was injured -- even the fish are okay. My thanks to the New York Fire Department for their quick action."
"Do a Holocaust Movie, the Awards Come”
The highlights of last night's Golden Globes ceremony were not Kate Winslet's double win or the triumph of HBO's John Adams miniseries or that Jeremy Piven didn't win again for Entourage. The multiple wins for Slumdog Millionaire—and shout-outs to Mumbai—were sweet, as was Steven Spielberg's plea for not only making movies for the mainstream (also, Martin Scorsese gets so emotional!), but let's face it, the British comedians took the cake for the best moments.
Video of the Day: "Hey, Coo - I'm Walking Here!"
City Councilman Simcha Felder's proposed legislation to fine people $1,000 for feeding pigeons has struck a nerve. Felder and other elected officials claim that pigeons' poop is harmful to New Yorkers and, therefore, various ways to limit pigeons' eating and procreating should be explored. But some pigeon lovers are unhappy with the level of vitriol directed at the city's unofficial bird. Hence the video from Animaniacs, "Goodfeathers" (it's 10 minutes, so settle in to...
Paris is Burning Up the Tabloids
The tabloids and cable news media got a weekend windfall when a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ordered socialite Paris Hliton back to jail. The Post called her a "Wailbird" while the Daily News described her as a "blubbering blond". And let's not even discuss the ridiculous coverage of her arrest at her home and the TV helicopters following her to court on TV.
TV Quote of the Day
Although the extremely gross clip of Glenn Beck propositioning an US Weekly writer on CNN was amazing, it's too awkward for us to enjoy. So our vote for the best line on TV yesterday is from 30 Rock.
For Tracy Morgan, Does Life Imitate Art...Imitating Life?
On 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live alum Tracy Morgan plays Tracy Jordan, a "wild and unpredictable movie star." In real life, Morgan was arrested for drunk driving this morning in New York City. TMZ breaks the story: The police report says Morgan "was unable to maintain a position in a lane of traffic" while driving at 4:38AM in Manhattan. And the Manhattan DA's office also told TMZ that Morgan's story was that he was "drinking a beer at a club."
Emmys Coverage 2006: We're Only Watching for Conan
After last year's mess of an awards show and this year's joke of nominations (where is love for Lauren Graham, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences?), we were going to swear off this year's Emmys. But then we realized Conan O'Brien was hosting, so we must watch and liveblog. And there's the hope of a good Steve Carrell bit, not to mention awkward reaction shots of Candy and Tori Spelling during the Aaron Spelling tribute.
Upfront and Personal
Even though the network media upfronts don't mean anything - except to advertisers - because schedules can be shuffled and shows killed between now and fall, Gothamist is still excited, because it's about hope (Tina Fey's new show to be good, Veronica Mars to be picked up) and new seasons of shows we love (The Office, My Name is Earl...and, heck, we can't help but watch Grey's Anatomy). Anyway, there are a lot of NYC-set shows coming in the fall season; NBC has Kidnapped and The Black Donnellys. Things we're wondering about:
Too Much Information About Star Jones
If you have a weak stomach, feel free to move along. Star Jones allayed the fears of her numerous fans yesterday when she called into The View and told her co-hosts that she's doing OK. For those of you that don't know, Jones had a breast lift and implants on March 17th. The 44 year-old Jones said her "boobs think they're still 20." Excuse us while we wipe the vomit from our mouths.
Tracy Takes Tuesday
Morgan stars in the sharp-edged family comedy as father, husband and small-business owner Tracy Mitchell, who, with his beautiful, no-nonsense wife Alicia (Tamala Jones, “Head of State”), share their modest apartment with their two kids, 13-year-old Derrick (Marc John Jefferies, “The Haunted Mansion”) and 7-year-old Jimmy (newcomer Bobb’e J. Thompson). While at work at his auto garage, Mitchell is responsible for his other more dysfunctional family of mechanics -- Spoon (John Witherspoon, “The Wayans Bros.”) and Bernard (Heavy D, “The Cider House Rules”). Every day, they remind Tracy of the headaches of running a business as they contend with neighborhood characters and would-be customers such as Freddie (Katt Williams, “The Friday After Next”).


