Please Pray: One of America’s Most Beloved Comedians Just Died [VIDEO]

Please Pray: One of America’s Most Beloved Comedians Just Died [VIDEO]

It has been confirmed that one of America’s greatest comedians has passed away at the age of 91.

Jerry Lewis, legendary comedian and all around fantastic human being, passed away in his Las Vegas home on Sunday, breaking the hearts of millions of Americans who remember him fondly.

Representative Mark Rozzano confirmed Lewis’ death to ABC News.

“Sadly I can confirm that today the world lost one of the most significant human beings of the 20th century.”

Lewis starred in many hit films like Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy and The Nutty Professor, but his most notable achievements don’t involve film at all.

He founded the Labor Day Muscular Dystrophy telethon in the 1960’s, which raised an astonishing $2.45B until he was relieved of that particular duty in 2011.

From the Daily Mail:

He received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his fund-raising work on behalf of the Muscular Dystrophy Association at the Academy Awards ceremony in 2009. The actor was he was also nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 for his work.

A video memorial was posted to YouTube and it does a brilliant job of highlighting some of Lewis’ best moments.

When asked why he decided to raise money for this organization in particular, Lewis was always a little dodgy.

‘The important thing is that I do it, not the why,’ he told The New York Times.

According to the Daily Mail, however, his life wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. They report that he once threatened to kill Joan Rivers because she criticized him.

In response, he had written Rivers a note, Chicago Now reports, that read: ‘Dear Ms. Rivers, we’ve never met, and I’m looking forward to keeping it that way. If you find it necessary to discuss me, my career, or my kids ever again, I promise you I will get somebody from Chicago to beat your goddamn head off.’

But whatever view you take of Lewis, we can agree that he was a spectacular man who made plenty of money for the people who deserve it the most.

May he rest in peace.

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