30 Rock’s Tracy Morgan Wears an EGOT Necklace on National TV!
Wow
I’m one of the few that actually watches NBC’s programming these days and one show that I find consistently funny each week is 30 Rock. This past week’s episode titled “Dealbreakers Talk Show #0001” had me do multiple double-takes and jaw drops. There was a side story in the episode where Tracy Morgan’s character becomes obsessed with winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award after going into a jewelry shop and seeing a bling necklace pendant that read EGOT. Yes Pinoys, you read that right, EGOT.
Morgan’s character becomes so obsessed with this notion that he purchases the EGOT pendant and wears it with pride throughout the episode. I was waiting for a Filipino character to show up and tell him why it was pretty screwed up to see a black guy wearing an EGOT pendant but that never happened in the episode.
The emmy award winning writers for 30 Rock are typically savvy in finding double meanings in things but this time, the EGOT joke got past their pop-culture radar. You see, the 30 Rock episode was referencing the term EGOT from 80s TV star Philip Michael Thomas as he used it as an acronym for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony as those were the awards he planned to win in his career. Yes, there is humor in envisioning Tubbs winning a Grammy but what the 30 Rock folks didn’t research was the fact that the term “egot” is the equivalent to the n-word in Filipino slang. Don’t believe me? Go visit the entry for “egot” on the Urban Dictionary and read it for yourself.
Here’s the episode. You got until December 14 to watch it online (or sooner once NBC catches wind of this).
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15 Responses to “30 Rock’s Tracy Morgan Wears an EGOT Necklace on National TV!”
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I’ve been waiting for someone to comment on this because I had to rewind that a few times myself. What threw me off was that they not only referenced the word, but is seemed so unnecessarily overly-emphasized – almost as if some behind the scenes writer knew what was going on and deliberately wanted it depicted several times.
ya, my jaw was dropped myself! I was waiting for a filipino character to pop out at the end but didn’t’ happen. I wrote NBC and email about this.
I’ve always wanted to charter a CBO named “Filipinos for Unity, Consciousness, and Knowledge”. Our youth mentorship program would be the “Youth Organizers’ Union”. And, for publicity… there’d be something magical about flyers, T-shirts, and banners that screamed “F.U.C.K. -Y.O.U.” Much catchier than something like “AFL-CIO”, don’t ya think?
Yo Moonie you gotta find me one of those man! Shit I’d wear it.
wow indeed lol
[...] I came across this piece from PinoyLife, Tracy Morgan Wears an EGOT Necklace on National TV. Apparently Tubbs actually had dreams of obtaining an EGOT back in the ’80s. Though, even [...]
[...] Egot Universe 2009 December 5 by The Kawawa http://pinoylife.com/2009/12/04/30-rock’s-tracy-morgan-wears-an-egot-necklace-on-national-tv/ [...]
30 Rock does do a lot of Filipino references I wouldn’t be surprised if it was a double meaning. I wonder if Filipinos are going to blow this up like the Baldwin Mail Order Brides, Terri Hatcher doctor, etc…
I really don’t think anyone should be offended with this particular use of the word Egot. It was made clear which meaning of the word they were using, and they never had a Filipino reference during the episode. If we are to take offense to this, then Caucasians could complain every time someone used the word Cracker on tv, even if they were only dipping them in soup. There are many homonyms in the english language, and since they steered clear of making a Filipino reference, I see no fault.
hilarious where tracy was wearing his egot bling sitting beside whoopie.
i think the writers knew what theyre doing though. kudos to them!
the writers did not invent the term ‘egot.’ as referenced, philip michael thomas actually wanted to win all those awards and did get a necklace made as he told an interviewer in 1984.
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2008/02/the-oscars-wher.html
‘di ba redundant yun?
[...] I came across this piece from PinoyLife, Tracy Morgan Wears an EGOT Necklace on National TV. Apparently Tubbs actually had dreams of obtaining an EGOT back in the ’80s. Though, even with [...]
So I don’t know why you referenced EGOT being the N-word. I always knew it as just a reference to an African American person or of darked skinned. I think the more you think it’s an issue, you make it into a bad thing. It’s not like he was wearing a necklace that said monkey, which is a racial slur.
The writers knew what they were doing and I see the double reference and find it funny. love 30rock!
well, here in manila EGOY seems to be the term. same way that we call white people PUTI and then the chinese INTSIK.