With 34 years under his belt as a comedian, Tracy Morgan’s has made plenty of statements and jokes that would get under people’s skin.
In the past, he’s made sexist, ableist, and homophobic jokes, the latter of which he eventually apologized for.
But it seems that the 57-year-old comic might soon have to apologize for his latest not-so-funny joke.
For Variety and CNN’s June 10 “Actors on Actors” series, he spoke with “Saturday Night Lice” cast member Marcello Hernández about his disdain for teachers.
It started when Hernández asked Morgan, who is an “SNL” himself, if he got in trouble in school.
He responded, “No, I was a athlete. So I couldn’t get in trouble, but I was funny.”
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He explained that during lunch, he and a friend would have a “snapping period.” Without explaining further what “snaps” are, he said that he would act out his snaps.
Similarly to Morgan, Hernández was an athlete in school who also got in trouble because of his mouth.
“But in school, I just talked too much,” Hernández shared. “I was excessive talking.”
“No,” Morgan said. “You know who gave you that voice?”
Without answering, Hernández replied, “They told me I did mischief — in the school mischief.”
Morgan sat forward in his chair and said, “No. They didn’t understand you. You had a sense of humor. And they couldn’t control that. God gave that to you.”
Hernández replied with a cheeky statement about how he was now “getting paid for mischief.”
“And they still making minimum wage,” said Morgan, who deemed it a jab at teachers.
Hernández seemingly tried to save Morgan by laughing and saying, “No.”
After taking a long sip from his mug, Morgan asked: “You know how much them teachers probably making right now?”
“Man, not enough,” Hernández said, still trying to save the moment.
But Morgan pressed on, adding, “And I can’t stand teachers. You know why? Because they have a ceiling. They have a limit. That’s all they ever going to be.”
He added, “Man, I teach my kids sky’s the limits.”
The “Top Five” actor has four children. He welcomed three sons, Gitrid Morgan, Malcolm Morgan, and Tracy Morgan Jr., with his late ex-wife Sabrina Morgan.
In 2013, he and his current wife, Megan Wollover, share a 12-year-old daughter, Maven Morgan.
Morgan’s view of teachers and education didn’t land the way he intended.
One person wrote, “Oh this STINKS !!!!!!!!! Like this is probably the worst take you could have omg!”
Another said, “Take the energy yall gave chalamet over ballet and give it to Tracy Morgan 50x for this like jesus christ what a piece of actual dogsh-t.”
The commenter was referring to the Variety and CNN Town Hall conversation between actors Timothée Chalamet and Matthew McConaughey, in which Chalamet sparked backlash after slamming opera and ballet.
He said, “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or you know, things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive,’ even though it’s like, no one cares about this anymore.”
Others were upset by Morgan’s statement, which suggested he has no room to give advice on this subject.
One person wrote, “I wouldn’t take any educational advice from Tracy fu-kin Morgan lol. No one should take what he says seriously here and stop giving weight to these idiotic statements that a few morons will prob look to be enlightened by.”
Someone else slammed him by saying, “Tracy Morgan hit the limit on what he was going to be a long time ago. Now he has only the slow decline into obscurity to look forward to.”
A fourth person shot down his talent, writing, “Tracy Morgan sucks. He’s never been funny.”
The “Coming 2 America” actor has yet to respond to the backlash. In fact, he’s probably still riding the wave from the historic fourth game of the NBA Finals.
He was one of the many celebrities, including Chalamet, Taylor Swift, Kylie Jenner, Spike Lee, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler and many more who were in attendance at Madison Square Garden to cheer on the New York Knicks on June 10.
In another post-victory video, Morgan can be seen shedding a few tears while being embraced by the crowd outside.
What started off as a hopeless game for the Knicks, who trailed the San Antonio Spurs by 29 points in the third quarter, eventually became an explosive turnaround for the team.
Within the last few seconds of the game, they won 107-106, sending the arena and the city into a frenzy.
