‘Prayers Up’: Tracy Morgan Breaks His Silence from Hospital Bed About Frightening Health Crisis That Caused Him to Leave Knicks Game in a Wheelchair
‘Saturday Night Live’ alum Tracy Morgan, 56, reveals he had “food poisoning” after extremely sick during an NBA basketball game inside Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Images of the Brooklyn-born comedian and entertainer vomiting while seated courtside at the New York Knicks versus Miami Heat spread across the internet on March 17.
The Monday night game was delayed around 10 minutes in the third quarter as the “Saturday Night Live” alum was taken out of MSG in a wheelchair with a towel over his face.
“We hope Tracy feels better soon and look forward to seeing him back courtside,” a representative from Madison Square Garden told People.
On March 18, Morgan informed fans that he was “doing ok now” after experiencing food poisoning.
“Thank you for all your concern! I’m doing ok now and doctors say it was food poisoning. Appreciate my MSG family for taking such good care of me and I need to shout out the crew that had to clean that up. Appreciate you!” he wrote in his caption on Instagram, sharing a photo of himself in the hospital bed.
He continued, “More importantly, the Knicks are now 1-0 when I throw up on the court so maybe I’ll have to break it out again in the playoffs #goknicks.”
Some celebrities shared positive messages for Morgan on social media. Fellow diehard Knicks fan “Zoolander” actor Ben Stiller tweeted, “Sending good thoughts to Tracy Morgan.”
Prayers up for the legend
https://t.co/KKLL3cv7Yg
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) March 18, 2025
Knicks player Josh Hart also offered well-wishes to “The Last O.G.” star following his team’s 116-95 win against the Heat.
“First and foremost, obviously we hope everything is good with Tracy Morgan,” Hart stated in a post-game media scrum. “Avid, lifetime Knick fan so prayers go out to him and his health and safety.”
X (formerly Twitter) users reacted to the alarming incident inside the World’s Most Famous Arena. While some people trivialized the “Top Five” actor’s illness, others sympathized with the Primetime Emmy Award winner.
“Tracy Morgan has been battling health problems for over a decade. We’re not going to laugh at him for getting ill at the Knicks game. Do better,” one person wrote.
Another poster declared, “The unkindness toward Tracy Morgan without knowing what the cause is is so gross. But this is Twitter so [I don’t know] what I really expected.”
The “First Sunday” actor has faced health scares before. In 2010, he received a kidney transplant after being diagnosed with diabetes and admitting to alcohol abuse.
He collapsed two years later, reportedly from exhaustion and altitude sickness, while attending the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
Morgan’s then-spokesperson, Lewis Kay, stated, per Reuters, “He is with his fiance and grateful to the Park City Medical Center for their care. Any reports of Tracy consuming alcohol are 100% false.”
At the time, Morgan, who was engaged to Megan Wollover, responded to the news of him passing out at Sundance with a comical answer.
“Superman ran into a little kryptonite. The high altitude in Utah shook up this kid from Brooklyn,” he tweeted in 2012.
In June 2014, Morgan was hospitalized following a serious traffic accident on the New Jersey Turnpike. A Walmart tractor-trailer crashed into a Sprinter minibus carrying the stand-up comic and others.
Morgan suffered broken bones and a brain injury. He remained in a coma for two weeks. His friend and mentor, 62-year-old comedian James “Jimmy Mac” McNair, died as a result of the tragic collision.
The wreck caused Morgan to be in a wheelchair for five months. After filing a negligence lawsuit against Walmart in July 2014, Morgan reportedly agreed to an estimated $90 million settlement from the retail corporation.
“Today is 10 years since our fateful accident, and I want to say to everyone who was in the van with me that night I love you, and we miss you, Uncle Jimmy Mac, and God bless your family,” Morgan expressed to People in June 2024.