St. Louis native comedian-actor Cedric the Entertainer said he knew his
friend and “King of Comedy” co-star Bernie Mac was sick, but was told by
his family that he was alright.
“I talked to the family and they expected him to come home, so I
expected the same, so it caught me off guard,” said Cedric The
Entertainer, who co-starred Bernie Mac in the highly acclaimed “Kings of
Comedy” tour and movie along with comics D.L. Hughley and Steve Harvey.
Bernie Mac died Saturday at age 50 of complications from pneumonia,
according his publicist Danica Smith. He lived with sarcoidosis for 25
years, but the rare lung disease that predominately affects African
Americans, reportedly went into remission in 2005.
His publicist said the disease didn’t have anything to do with his
death, but a Hollywood doctor on Fox 2’s MJ Morning Show surmised
otherwise.
“I believe that sarcoidosis played a major role in his death,” said Dr.
Marc Siegel.
“It scars the lungs and populates them with inflammation and keeps them
from being their own vacuum and pneumonia puts fluid on the lungs,” the
doctor explained.
Bernie Mac had double pneumonia in 2004 and once showed up to a TV
interview in a wheel chair with oxygen tubes in his nostrils.
Rumors ran rampant that the funnyman had AIDS because of his bouts with
pneumonia.
Bernie Mac’s publicist reportedly said no other details were available
regarding his untimely death and asked that his family’s privacy be
respected.
Ironically, Bernie Mac had recently filmed the movie Soul Men, which
centers around the death of friend who was part of a trio. Bernie
co-starred in the movie Samuel L. Jackson and Isaac Hayes who died Sunday.
Cedric The Entertainer said having one of the “Kings of Comedy” gone is
terrible.
“It was a legendary experience and a classic that hasn’t been
duplicated,” Ced said of tour and movie’s audience and box office, the
highest grossing of its kind.
“To know we shared that and we were always attached is like one of the
Temptations is gone,” Cedric the Entertainer said.
Cedric the Entertainer’s friend, manager and business partner Eric Rhone
deemed Bernie Mac’s death a cause to make once good relationships gone
bad good again.
“People and groups that have fallen out should use this as a wake up
call to reach out to one another,” Rhone said.
“You don’t want to be in a situation where you try to apologize once a
person is gone,” said Rhone.
Bernie Mac surely kept things positive with his family.
“That was his whole thing – he loved his wife and daughter and took care
of his sister’s kids,” which inspired the situation in his self-titled
comedy The Bernie Mac Show. The sitcom had a successful five-year run
and was in syndication on network TV until last month.
“He cared about the people he loved most and protected them,” Cedric The
Entertainer said.
After rehearsals, Bernie Mac may have a cocktail or two, but right after
that he would leave and go this family, Cedric the Entertainer said.
As a comic, Bernie Mac was truthful, had a large array of material, gave
it to audiences raw and took chances, Cedric the Entertainer said of
Bernie Mac.
St. Louis native and comic G-Thang, who has a role in the upcoming
comedy Disaster Movie, said of Bernie Mac was perhaps the most imitated
comedian.
“He was the reason I do comedy today,” G-Thang said.
“When I first started doing comedy I would imitate him and that would be
the only laugh I got,” G-Thang said.
