Chris Rock says Tracy Morgan is doing “OK,” four months after he was injured in a deadly limo bus crash, adding that the 30 Rock alum and fellow comedian, who stars in his new movie Top Five, remains “traumatized.”
Rock, 49, made his comments in an interview with USA Today that was posted on Wednesday.
“He’s OK. I saw him not too long ago,” Rock told the newspaper. “He doesn’t live too far from me. I went by his house and showed him a copy of the movie. He was very happy. He’s got physical therapists. There’s a lot of rehab going on. He’s traumatized—his friend died.”
Morgan, 45, has not commented.
On June 7, he was riding in a limo bus with other comedians and friends on a New Jersey highway after performing a standup show when a Walmart truck slammed into their vehicle, killing comic James “Jimmy Mack” McNair, 62, and injuring Morgan and others.
The actor suffered several broken bones. His lawyer said several weeks ago that the star and other injured passengers are also suffering from some cognitive disabilities as a result of the crash. The attorney also said Morgan’s “doctors don’t know” if he will ever perform again.
After the crash, Morgan sued Walmart for negligence, while the retail giant said McNair’s death and the injuries of the actor and his fellow passengers was linked to their failure to wear seatbelts during the crash. Morgan has expressed outrage at the company’s stance.
Top Five, which Rock also directed and wrote, was produced over the course of a year, concluding in August, and was screened at the 2014 Toronto Film Festival in September. It is set to hit theaters in December.
Top Five is about a comedian who strives to become a serious actor, while his fiancée, a reality star, coaxes him into allowing their wedding to be filmed for TV. The film also stars Rosario Dawson, Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, Kevin Hart, Whoopi Goldberg, Gabrielle Union, Sherri Shepherd and comedienne Leslie Jones, Saturday Night Live‘s newest cast member (watch the trailer below).
Rock and Morgan are both Saturday Night Live alumni and have worked together many times. They have performed standup comedy together onstage and Rock had also directed Morgan in the 2008 comedy movie Head of State, which the former actor also starred in and co-wrote. He and Morgan also both appeared in the 2005 comedy movie The Longest Yard, which featured Sandler as the main star, and in the 2010 film Death at a Funeral (pictured above: the two appear at its Los Angeles premiere).
Top Five was Morgan‘s latest onscreen project and the first for him since 30 Rock ended its seven-season run in 2013. In May of that year, Deadline reported that the actor was set to film an FX comedy pilot titled Death Pact and this past April, two months before the accident, the outlet said he would also star in an additional FXX comedy. Parent network FOX has not commented.
In 2008, Morgan also filmed the comedy film Nailed, which stars James Marsden, Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel. Production was shut down due to insufficient funding, according to Deadline, and no release date has been announced.
Source: Eonline
