The last year has been in turmoil with multiple deaths by iconic stars and comedian Paul Mooney has also passed away.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK (AP) — Paul Mooney, a boundary-pushing comedian who was Richard Pryor’s longtime writing partner and whose sage, incisive musings on racism and American life made him a revered figure in stand-up, has died. He was 79.
Cassandra Williams, Mooney’s publicist, said he died Wednesday morning at his home in Oakland, California, from a heart attack.
Mooney’s friendship and collaboration with Pryor began in 1968 and lasted until Pryor’s death in 2005. Together, they confronted racism perhaps more directly than it ever had been before onstage. Mooney chronicled their partnership in his 2007 memoir “Black Is the New White.”
Mooney wasn’t as widely known as Pryor, but his influence on comedy was ubiquitous. As head writer on “In Living Color,” Mooney helped create and inspire the Homey D. Clown character. He played the future-foretelling Negrodamus on “Chappelle’s Show.”
Mooney was also an actor who played Sam Cooke in 1978’s “The Buddy Holly Story” and Junebug in Spike Lee’s 2000 film “Bamboozled.”
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
Check out social media and its reaction to the passing of the icon.
I love this Paul Mooney clip so much pic.twitter.com/5Y61m9C3Eg
— Zach Mullis (@zmullis) May 19, 2021
Remember first seeing Paul Mooney on the chappelle show when I was like 10 years old and I knew then he was hilarious RIP
— A.I (@ADI15__) May 19, 2021
Paul Mooney with the best bar of all time. RIP pic.twitter.com/VZKFlXKPsJ
— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) May 19, 2021
Oh no. He was brilliance on stage and as a writer. Dave Chappelle's great but my guy Paul Mooney was the ish ✊🏿 pic.twitter.com/0LATwPQN7O
— Koptic King (@kopticking) May 19, 2021
Paul Mooney on Princess Diana was hilarious too
pic.twitter.com/P6pSaxJ49c— A Pimp Named Darkseid (@ApokolipsPimp) May 19, 2021
RIP Paul Mooney! One of the greatest. pic.twitter.com/HlCvpavctw
— Malcolm (@Malcolmvelli) May 19, 2021
