Tracy Morgan, the talented 30 Rock comedian whose unpredictability once threatened to outshine his accomplishments, took questions on Reddit on Thursday as part of a tour to rehabilitate his image ahead of a new comedy special and standup tour.
The 45-year-old Morgan has seen his reputation tarnished in recent years by allegations of homophobic and sexist remarks. “If my son were gay he better come home and talk to me like a man," Morgan said during a 2011 appearance before then saying he'd "pull out a knife" on his child. Morgan has three sons and one daughter.
In the years since, Morgan has either either genuinely matured or assembled a talented press team. Morgan is in New York to promote his Turn it Funny tour and his Comedy Central special airing this Sunday, and after a week of answering soft questions on late night television, it was time to face the usually straightforward, equally unpredictable denizens of Reddit.
The question around his homophobic comments, which famously earned him a public dressing down from 30 Rock creator Tina Fey, surfaced near the end of his Reddit Ask Me Anything discussion: "If you do have any issues with the gay community, why?"
"If you love me, I love you back," Morgan wrote. "I've got love for everybody ... I don't know why people are trying to surround my career with that."
Other than that, Morgan named two readers' kittens (Smokey and the Bandit), touted Aids and diabetes research, and identified his favorite Pokemon character (Pikachu). Here are a few other things we learned:
He really wants you to know he never smoked PCP
After one Reddit user posted a link to a podcast claiming that Tracy had smoked PCP, Morgan vehemently (and humorously) shot down the rumor:
I used to buy my own weed, and it wasn't laced with PCP. I knew what I was smoking. I would never do that.
His favorite pizza slice can be found in the Bronx
My favorite kind of pizza? I like just pepperoni and cheese. There's a small pizza place in the Bronx that I've been going to for 22 years. I don't know what it's called but it's a mom & pop pizza shop, and they have the best pepperoni & cheese.
He is not – repeat, not – 30 Rock's Tracy Jordan
The only thing they ever had in common was the name. I'm an actor, just like Tina, or Alec, or anyone else on the show.
His favorite SNL episode involved Tom Hanks
My fondest SNL memory was the very first show with Tom Hanks hosting and I got to say goodnight America. For 30 Rock I liked the christmas episode when we chopped down the tree. And I have another one when we did the Gladys Knight Midnight Train to Georgia.
He has a shark tank, and his sharks are doing fine
After a reader asked him whether his pet sharks were growing to be too large for the tank, Morgan responded: "No, the sharks are doing great. They're growing, but they're being fed. They're majestic creatures and they are doing fine." And yes, this does actually exist:
He likes to answer questions with one word
Morgan's AMA answers felt a bit brief, so here's the lightning round: he wants Will Smith to play him in a movie about his life; Kate Upton is the most famous person he's ever farted around; his favorite video game is Pac-Man; and if he could have anything in the world, he'd choose his youth.
"I'd go back to being 18, and be trouble, with what I know now. Youth is definitely wasted on the young."
