Tracy Morgan is an overweight black comic who lives on the edge of health and sanity, and should probably have a doctor assigned to him 24-7 so we don’t lose another one. He was attending the Creative Coalition Spotlight Awards at the Sundance Film Festival yesterday, and after accepting the Spotlight Initiative Award, he collapsed following his speech and was rushed to the hospital.

After his speech, he was escorted out of the building, where he collapsed and was taken to the hospital.
Morgan was take to Park City Medical Center and his current condition in unknown. A spokeswoman for the hospital stated that no drugs or alcohol were found in Tracy’s system upon medical evaluation.
Morgan’s rep released a statement after the actor was hospitalized: “From a combination of exhaustion and altitude, Tracy is seeking medical attention.”

If it’s not drugs and alcohol, don’t say “exhaustion,” you moron. Has anyone you know ever been hospitalized for “exhaustion?” Everyone knows exhaustion means “booze and drugs.”

Sources tell THR that during the dinner Morgan seemed out of control, yelling and falling onto the ground. Morgan briefly walked the red carpet before the event, but gave no interviews.

Well yeah, but that sounds normal. That’s part of his appeal, really. Did he pull his shirt up and slap his belly? “TRACY! TRACY! Are you okay? If you can hear me, pull your shirt up and slap your belly! We need to know you’re okay!”

Read the rest of this entry »

"IT'S CALLED A GAT!"

Last we heard about Channing Tatum’s upcoming The Son of No One, it was met with crappy reviews at Sundance, but that wasn’t going to stop our good friend C-Tates from becoming the hardest twerkin’ playa in da Hollyweird game. Sure, the movie still doesn’t have a release date in the U.S. and it is set to be released on DVD in Brazil in October, but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily doomed.

At least it’s not stopping the studios from releasing a new HD trailer to try and change our minds. Granted, this trailer isn’t much different from the first one, and I’m pretty sure if you watch them both back-to-back you’ll figure out the entire plot, but that shouldn’t take away from the pure joy of experiencing a C-Tates joint. Besides, if you can’t at least giggle at the idea of Tatum’s character being named White, then I just can’t be friends with you anymore.

Read the rest of this entry »

My head has been swimming ever since once-lovable, possibly-crazy dude Tracy Morgan said some pretty horrible things about the gays. Is it still possible to be amused by a goofball’s antics once you know that part of his quirkiness extends to hateful, bigoted thoughts?  I don’t know the answer to that. It’s something I’ll have to explore with time. But I do owe a debt of gratitude to Huffington Post for posting My Big Fat Greek Wedding director Nia Vardalos’ response to the controversy.Turns out, she’s against homophobia. And you can tell she believes this is a serious issue, because she uses. A lot. Of Periods. To make. Her point.

There are reports that while some were angry, many people in the audience that evening, laughed.
That offends me. And, worries me. We live in an unsafe world. There are children and adults who go to school and work every day, knowing there are people who feel the same way as Tracy Morgan. They now know there was an audience who did not stand up and walk out when a man talked about stabbing his son if that child revealed himself to be gay. Stabbing. His son.

Offended AND worried. Someone write this down. With pencils. On paper. Possibly pen.

So, that’s it? We get a few statements from the people who work with him, and we all forget about it?
Not this time.
I want more. And, I respectfully request more. Much more.
When does the hate against our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, end?
Sure, a writer or comedian riffing, working out material, often goes to strange and dark places. Editing is discouraged, because part of the journey is surprise and discovery. But what we discovered about Tracy Morgan is deeply disturbing.
He is homophobic.
His employers now know this about him. And, I don’t think he should simply be vilified and shunned. Nor, just apologized for. I am optimistic wonderful Tina Fey and the brilliant writers won’t just reference it on the show in a cute and sweet way, thus dealing with the incident with a wink and a nod. I hope NBC does more than issue a statement.
What I’m yearning for is simple: we’ve discovered Tracy Morgan has a problem, and now he needs help. There must be some result, more than a few apologies. Maybe this is a way to open the dialogue. Maybe sensitivity training. It happened. Let’s address it and learn from it. [Huffington Post]

She wants more than a cheap apology. Dammit, NBC! The Nias Vardalos of the world aren’t going to take this lying down! She wants to see some real consequences. Some real solutions. Like a company-mandated sensitivity training. And maybe if that doesn’t work, we can start a group called “Tracy Morgan should stop being homophobic!” on Facebook.  If it gets a million likes, Gwyneth Paltrow can play a benefit concert.  Thank you, Huffington Post, for publishing this important editorial.

"TURN IT SIDEWAYS!"

Troubling news out of Sundance today, friends. It seems that Channing Tatum’s film The Son of No One has been met with less than stellar reviews. In fact, people walked out of its very important screening, including a number of studio execs. There’s just no respek in this Hollywood game these days.

The film, about a young cop (Tatum) who finds himself embroiled in controversy that could tear his family apart, features heavy star power, including Ray Liotta, Al Pacino, Katie Holmes and Tracy Morgan, which indicates that there should still be a demanding market for Son, despite people crapping all over it yesterday.

C-walk out of my theater, Hollywood Reporter…

Though the theater wasn’t full, the room was crowded with acquisitions execs wanting an early look at the film. Reps from Samuel Goldwyn, Paramount, Summit, the Weinstein Co., Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group, IFC Films, Morgan Creek, Screen Media, Miramax and Relativity made it into the theater by the film’s opening credits.

Some of them, however, were gone well before the end credits. In addition, enough regular audience members left early for one observer to describe it as an “exodus.”

Baloney. Pure baloney. I’m so angry right now that I could just cuss. But I won’t because I know that this movie is going to be a success. Even worse, I’m going to have to explain this to my good friend C-Tates, because he actually sent me this link with the following message:

“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH BOYYYYYYYYY, C-TATES IS DA MUTHA F*CKIN’ BOMB, YO!”

Poor guy. At least the poster lists some of the more positive reviews…

Read the rest of this entry »

In this behind-the-scenes clip from The Expendables, Sly goes to Brazil to watch MMA fights in the hopes of casting some extras. You’ll never believe this, but it turns out the usual crop of fruity Disney Channel queerbait with Zac Efron hair don’t make the most believable action-movie soldiers. [via Fightlinker] (additional note for MMA fans: Anderson Silva seems to speak pretty good English for a guy who always uses an interpreter)

Inception expected to surpass $100 million domestically by late tomorrow.  (*BRAAAAAAAAAHHMMM*). |Deadline|

The manager from Major League died. One of the most prolific “that guy”s around, James Gammon, died of adrenal and liver cancer in Costa Mesa at the age of 70.  That really sucks, because this guy seemed cool. He talked like he gargled with dirty syringes and rock salt, way before Christian Bale started thinking that was cool.  Though it has to be said, for a guy who made a career out of playing characters on death’s door, this is hardly surprising. |NYTimes|

Hangover 2 will be set in Thailand. Though it was initially rumored and then denied, ComingSoon is claiming they’ve confirmed that The Hangover 2 will indeed be set in Thailand, the land of coconut milk and projectile vaginas.  I’m not huge on the idea of comedy sequels, but if Zach Galifianakis carries a ladyboy wearing sunglasses around in a baby Bjorn, consider me sold. |ComingSoon|

Tracy Morgan’s Blavatar.  Tracy Morgan has taken to calling his “Black and Blue” special Blavatar, choosing it over A Blaffair to Rememblack. It’s funny because he’s African-American, you see.  And he makes pregnant women’s water break using karate.  |EW|

SITE NEWS: My on-lactation coverage of Comic Con begins tonight.  Expect photo essays, crowd weariness, and technical difficulties.  Burnsy and Chodin will be taking over the heavy news lifting for the next couple days, so expect C-Tates posts and lovingly-detailed gay jokes.  The latest episode of the Frotcast will be up tomorrow.  We even tried to mix it this time. (*BRAAAAAHM*)