Tracy Morgan Says His Father Would Be Proud For Coming 2 America
Working on Coming 2 America was a way for Tracy Morgan to feel connected to his late father.
While appearing virtually on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Tuesday, the 52-year-old actor spoke about starring in the recently released film and how the experience was “nostalgic” for him.
Detailing to guest host Stephen “tWitch” Boss that he wasn’t “doing so well spiritually” when the original Coming to America was released back in 1988, a year after his father’s death, Morgan said that working on the latest follow-up film lifted his spirits.
“My father loved Eddie Murphy and Arsenio [Hall],” he said. “So it was nostalgia for me when I saw [the film].”
“I was like, wait a minute. That’s something that me and my dad loved,” Morgan added. “… And now, to be sitting here 30 something years later, to be in it, my dad is smiling down. He’s singing.”
Coming 2 America finds Murphy’s Prince Akeem and Hall’s Semmi traveling back to America to find Akeem’s long lost son, a Queens native named Lavelle Junson (Jermaine Fowler).
In the film, Morgan stars as Reem Junson — Lavelle’s uncle. “I’m his uncle, I raised him,” Morgan told tWitch, 38, of his film character. “So all through the movie, that’s my nephew up there.”
Continuing to speak about the opportunity to star in the sequel film, Morgan said that the experience was unlike any other.
“Being on that set, there was one day where I laughed so hard for 25 minutes because me, Jermaine, Eddie and Arsenio started getting into this groove,” he shared. “When you got that kind of manpower, you can only imagine the funny.”
Coming 2 America is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.