Tracy Morgan says he’s feeling fine after throwing up courtside on March 17 and delaying the New York Knicks game against the Miami Heat.
The culprit: food poisoning, he says.
The Saturday Night Live veteran posted proof of life the day after on social media, showing himself in a hospital bed with leads connected all over his chest and his Knicks-branded cellphone on his shoulder.
“Thank you for all your concern! I’m doing ok now and doctors say it was food poisoning. Appreciate my MSG family for taking such good care of me and I need to shout out the crew that had to clean that up. Appreciate you!” the 56-year-old comic wrote.
“More importantly, the Knicks are now 1-0 when I throw up on the court so maybe I’ll have to break it out again in the playoffs.”
With a towel held over his face, Morgan was taken out of the Madison Square Garden game in a wheelchair — presumably straight to a hospital — while the Knicks staff figured out how to clean the mess without a mop. And yes, that was The Sopranos alum Steve Schirripa, aka Bobby Baccalieri/Bobby Bacala, standing a few seats down as Morgan was wheeled past.
The break to take care of Morgan did seem effective for the Knicks, who were up by 6 points in the third quarter when Morgan suddenly became ill, the Associated Press reported. After a 10-minute delay of the game, the Knicks went on to outscore Miami 24-6 before the fourth quarter started. New York then handed Miami its eighth loss in a row.
Former Laker Josh Hart, who is now with the Knicks, had kind words for the SNL alum after the game. “We hope everything’s good with Tracy Morgan. Avid, lifetime Knick fan so prayers go out to him and his health and safety,” Hart said.
Morgan getting sick in plain view of thousands of people was more than a mere celebrity sighting: His health has been a concern since the 1990s when he was diagnosed with diabetes — a condition he has said he didn’t take seriously at first. He also has struggled with alcoholism.
The 30 Rock cast member wound up getting a kidney transplant in December 2010.
A few years later, in June 2014, Morgan was involved in a five-vehicle crash with a Walmart tractor-trailer on the New Jersey Turnpike. He and two friends were seriously hurt and another friend, James McNair, aka comedy veteran Jimmy Mack, was killed.
“At the beginning, the internet was saying that [Morgan] was dead,” the performer’s attorney Benedict Morelli said in August 2014 on the Today show. “And then they said they amputated his leg. Now it’s coming out that he’s doing great. None of those things are true or accurate.”
This time around, the medical incident was recorded and photographed for all to see and see again, at least on social media. People on X were still sending the photo around the next day.
—Christie D’Zurilla, Los Angeles Times (TNS)
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