BERNIE MAC DEAD

Bernie Mac, the Emmy nominated funnyman who rose from Chicago's South Side poverty to Hollywood success is dead at 50.

Mac's publicist Danica Smith said, "Actor/comedian Bernie Mac passed away this morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital."

The Bernie Mac Show which aired from 2001 to 2006 was a Peabody Award winner.

Critics praised the show for transcending "race and class while lifting viewers with laughter, compassion - and cool."

The comedian had entered the hospital last week and had been the subject of rampant internet rumors reporting he had died.

Now he has.

Adios, amigo.