Source: Michael Loccisano / Getty
Tracy Morgan kept it lowkey when he returned to his old stomping grounds in Bedford Stuyvesant last week. It was for a great cause, too.
On Nov. 6, the comedian surprised locals attending a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their new multi-million dollar community center at Marcy Houses, causing a welcomed frenzy as soon as he was spotted at the event.
The Brooklyn Paper reports that the 3,200 square foot center was a two-year construction project at Marcy Avenue and Walton Street that built office space, two activity rooms, four bathrooms, and a community kitchen to service over 4,000 Marcy residents in the area.
Funding for the center was a collaborative effort facilitated by Bedford-Stuyvesant Councilman Robert Cornegy with a $4.6 million grant from Mayor de Blasio, and a $1.5 million allotment from Borough President Eric Adams.
Cornegy just so happens to be pals with Morgan, which explains why the comic popped-up and presented his friend with a chain from “The Last O.G.,” his hit television TBS show that filmed in the area.
Morgan, a former resident of the nearby Tompkins Houses, reflected on the event and his own humble beginnings as a child growing up in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
“I had people to talk to when I was feeling a certain way, that’s why I’m where I’m at now,” Morgan said after showing up to the event unannounced in a Rolls Royce. “When young people don’t have that, that’s why they end up pregnant at 16, or doing 25-to-life, they didn’t have nobody to talk to, they succumbed to the pressures of it.”
The Brooklynite is no stranger to helping out causes his old neighborhood. In 2019 he donated $215,000 to renovate a playground at Marcy Park giving the area new asphalt, fresh backboards for basketball hoops and a fresh mural. Days before that, he also partnered with Power 105.1 radio personality Angela Yee and local food vendors to host a block party to promote the new renovation.
In other news, a fan randomly spotted the “30 Rock” actor at a stoplight in The Bronx recently. He was hard to miss given the flashy car and N.O.R.E.’s “Nothin” blasting from the speakers.
on Grand Concourse and Fordham?? Lol pic.twitter.com/wnRKYGY5kI
— Squidward Quincy Tentacles (@HeadNotTooThere) November 12, 2020
