newsmakers

newsmakers

Comic Tracy Morgan apologizes for remarks

LOS ANGELES

Tracy Morgan apologized Friday after coming under fire for anti-gay remarks he made during a stand-up performance in Nashville last week.

“I want to apologize to my fans and the gay and lesbian community for my choice of words at my recent stand-up act in Nashville,” Morgan said in a statement. “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.”

Morgan’s remarks were slammed around the Web and by groups such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and Human Rights Campaign. It all stemmed from a Facebook post (“Why I No Longer ‘Like’ Tracy Morgan — A Must Read” [Warning: contains profanity]) written by an audience member, Kevin Rogers, who attended the June 3 Nashville show. In it, Rogers details Morgan’s anti-gay tirade, which included the “Saturday Night Live” alum saying he’d “pull out a knife and stab” his son if he were gay and talked in a high-pitched voice.

It wasn’t long before the comments drew criticism.

Labor dispute outside Tonys venue solved

NEW YORK

The stagehands’ union and producers of the Tony Awards reached an agreement Friday on how the show’s red-carpet area will be staffed, ending a labor dispute that threatened to derail Broadway’s biggest night.

Members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees had vowed to picket near the Beacon Theatre, where the award show will take place Sunday evening. They were angry that producers of the show had nonunion workers setting up the red- carpet area.

A deal between both sides was announced Friday afternoon, though no details were disclosed immediately. The union won its biggest demand — for union workers to staff the area.

“Both labor and management are satisfied with the terms and conditions of the agreement, which will not be publicly disclosed,” both sides said in a statement. “The red carpet staging area for this and future Tony Award shows at the Beacon Theatre will be staffed by union labor.”

The change in the Tony Awards’ venue this year has put stress on producers. The ceremony was forced to leave its longtime home at Radio City Music Hall because Cirque du Soleil took over the art deco theater for its new show, and Tony producers picked the 3,000-seat Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side, which has only about half as many seats as Radio City.

Vindicator wire services