For Louis C.K., controversy is comedic gold.
In an interview with “Nightline” anchor Bill Weir, the crass comedian talked about his family, why he chose to launch his upcoming stand-up special himself and when jokes can incite controversy, such as when Tracy Morgan was chastised for making homophobic comments this summer.
During a Nashville stand-up appearance in June, Morgan told a joke in which he said if his son talked to him in an effeminate voice, he would “stab that little (n word) in the throat.” The statement later sparked enormous public outrage and Morgan publicly apologized several times, making it clear that there was no excuse for his comments.
C.K. took to Morgan’s defense, saying at the time that he was “on a comedy stage, not a pulpit.” In a recent “Nightline” interview, C.K. told Weir that he thought the gay community missed a prime chance to have a discussion with Morgan, versus just attacking him for his comments.
“To me that joke is Tracy trying to figure it out, ‘my sons gay now, ok, but he better not talk like that cause I can’t...I don’t know how to deal with it,’” C.K. told Weir. “He’s afraid of it or he’s confused by it and then he blasts through the whole idea with a joke. That’s what jokes are. You don’t tiptoe through the idea, you just go ‘I would stab that little (n word) in the throat,’ and that brings everybody a huge relief in a very scary place and makes them laugh.”
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“I think the opportunity that was lost was for the gay community to ask Tracy, ‘why did you say that’ and ‘what was your dad like’ and ‘what is being a man mean to you,’ you know what I mean? It could have been a starting point of a conversation that might have actually made a difference in how people feel about homophobia.”
Tune into “Nightline” on Monday, Dec. 12 to watch Bill Weir’s full interview with Louis C.K.