Approximately 6,000 friends, fans, and celebrities attend the funeral service for Bernie Mac held at Chicago's House of Hope church on Saturday.Mac, born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough, died the previous Saturday at the age of 50 from complications of pneumonia. He had been at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital since the middle of July.
Traffic was tied up for blocks outside the church and vendors took advantage of the occasion by selling T-shirts for $10 each.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said at the memorial service that Mac had visited his office recently. He wanted to know how he could help fight violent crime in the city. Mayor Daly said,
He wanted to help get children away from a life of crime and violence.
A number of celebrities spoke at the service. Steve Harvey, DL Hughley, and Cedric the Entertainer, Mac's co-stars in the documentary The Original Kings of Comedy, also took the stage at the service. After looking over the crowd at the megachurch, Cedric the Entertainer cracked that the comedy king was
still the hottest ticket in town.
Bernie starred in the critically acclaimed TV series The Bernie Mac Show from 2001 to 2006. He appeared in several movies, namely Guess Who? Transformers, and The Ocean's Trilogy.
