​'Friday' Actor and Comedian John Witherspoon Dies at 77

John Witherspoon — an actor and comedian best known for his role in Friday and its sequels — has passed away. He was 77.
 
His manager confirmed that he had passed away in Los Angeles last night (October 29), though no cause of death has been revealed.
 
Witherspoon famously starred as Ice Cube's father in Friday, Next Friday and Friday After Next.
 
He was also a frequent collaborator of the Wayans Brothers and appeared in a number of films alongside Eddie Murphy, such as Boomerang, Vampire in Brooklyn and Dr. Doolittle 2. Witherspoon even appeared in JAY-Z's 2000 music video for "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)."
 
More recently, Witherspoon voiced "Granddad" on animated series The Boondocks. The show ran from 2005 to 2014, but was recently picked up by HBO for a two-season reboot set to debut next year. Witherspoon was expected to reprise his role.
 
Witherspoon is survived by his wife Angela and his two sons JD and Alexander.
 
Read some of the social media tributes pouring in for Witherspoon below.
 

 

 

 

 

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John Witherspoon resonated with every last one of us because he represented someone in our family: embarrassing us at gatherings (Boomerang), misrepresenting our generations heroes ("Public Enema"?!), making a jingle about pretty much everything (Grandpa on Boondocks), the neighborhood wino (black Jesus—-or better yet Hollywood Shuffle)—-the list is endless. Bar none my favorite working/blue collar actor. Prolly THE most famous iconic character actor (I mean he didn't star in vehicles but he was no doubt THE go to support) the best knew to get the best. When interviewing @davidalangrier on @QLS him describing what should have been a routine 15 min scene at the family table in Boomerang wound up being a non stop hour and a half us master class riffing amongst masters, with Witherspoon leading the way. History should tell it well, all the greats utilized him on their project for the last 45 years (Richard Pryor Show/Whats Happening!/Good Times/WKRP/227/Martin/Amen/Fresh Prince/Wayans Bros/Living Single/Boondocks/First Family/blackish/Black Jesus)—-he will forever be our pop pops. RIP

A post shared by Questlove Froman, (@questlove) on Oct 30, 2019 at 6:04am PDT