‘The Wire’ actor found dead in Williamsburg apt.
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Actor Michael K. Williams
has died, according to law enforcement.
The actor famous for his
portrayal of Omar Little in
HBO’s “The Wire” was found
dead inside his Kent Avenue
apartment in Williamsburg
on the afternoon of Sept. 6, according
to police.
The actor’s nephew found
Williams, 54, in his living
room with drug paraphernalia,
hinting at a possible overdose,
reported the New York
Post.
Police could not confi rm
that report, but said he was
found around 2 pm on Sept.
6 at his home near S. Ninth
Street by a family member.
Along with his famous
role in “The Wire,” Williams
was also best known for his
portrayal of gangster Chalky
White on the HBO Prohibition
drama “Boardwalk Empire.”
He won three Emmys
for his roles in a trio of television
COURIER LIFE, S 34 EPTEMBER 10-16, 2021
movies including “Bessie”
in 2015, “The Night Of” in
2016 and “When They See Us”
in 2019.
Williams was a Brooklyn
native who grew up in the
Vanderveer Houses in Flatbush
and graduated from
George Westinghouse Career
and Technical Education
High School. He was also a
prominent member of the National
Black Theatre.
Quickly, mourners took to
social media to express their
sorrow at Williams’ death.
“Brooklyn is mourning one
of its native sons. Michael K.
Williams was a generational
talent and a tireless advocate
for social justice,” tweeted
Brooklyn Borough President
Eric Adams. “As Omar in
The Wire, he once said ‘sometimes
who you are is enough.’
Michael was always unabashedly
himself — and he will be
deeply missed.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio, referencing
Williams’ highlypublicized
efforts to advocate
for criminal justice reform,
lauded the late actor for trying
to “fi x an often broken
world.”
“Michael K. Williams
tried to fi x an often broken
world. He was generous, kind
and stood with those fi ghting
for justice. His work, particularly
his role in ‘The Wire,’
was unforgettable and in its
own way, life-affi rming.”
Congressmember Hakeem
Jeffries added his condolences,
Actor Michael K. Williams was found dead of a suspected drug overdose
in his Williamsburg home on Sept. 6. Wikimedia Commons
and praised Williams’
attachment to the community
where he grew up.
“Thankful for his artistic
brilliance, big heart, and
fi erce effort to give back to
the underserved communities
from whence he came,” the
legislator said. “Rest in Power
my brother.”
BY JESSICA PARKS
The Coney Island Comedy
Festival is gearing up for its
second year in person with two
locations, two contests and a
huge lineup hoping to spread
laughter across the peninsula.
“We believe laughter is
the best medicine, so giving
it away, I think, would be best
for our community,” said comedian
Irina Ginzburg, who
performs under the stage name
Upa inSpace and founded the
Coney Island Comedy Festival
in 2019.
The third iteration of the
festival will offer fi ve free
shows over the course of three
nights, from Sept. 16 through
18. The fi rst two evenings will
include back-to-back shows
starting at Coney Island Brewery
and then moving over to
Ruby’s Bar and Grill, with the
closing night event exclusively
at the brewery.
While the festival’s founder
is ready to take the stage again
after festivities transitioned
online in 2020, Ginzburg told
Brooklyn Paper that they’re
continuing with the one-liner
contest introduced during the
pandemic and accepting submissions
of 30 words or less on
the website until Sept. 1.
“We started a one-liner
competition and we opened it
to the public, and we loved it,”
said Ginzburg. “It’s just going
to be part of our festival for everyone
now.”
The one-liner competition
will join the traditional standup
comedy festival, where 10
comedians — out of over 300
submissions, Ginzburg said
— will battle to take home the
title of the funniest in Coney
Island.
And, as the festival’s two
venues represent the contrast
between independent and corporate
businesses, Ginzburg
said, the event’s lineup serves
as a similar hodgepodge of
both mainstream and urban
circuit comedians.
“We have a mix of comedians,”
she told Brooklyn Paper,
“and we are very happy about
that because Ruby’s is a family
owned business and Coney
Island Brewery is a corporation
so we kind of feel we are
fusing that together.”
Ginzburg says she founded
the festival in an effort to support
emerging comedians by
bringing stand-up comedy
opportunities to southern
Brooklyn, where there currently
were none, while also
offering accessible comedy
shows to audiences on her end
of the borough.
“I feel like this is something
I can bring to the community,”
she said.
In addition to supporting
emerging artists through the
COMEDY
comedy festival, the southern
Brooklynite has hosted a summer
of open-mics from June
through September leading
up to the main event — all of
which was free and open to the
public each Thursday at Margarita
Island.
“If I had an open mic when
I was growing up in Coney Island,
I would have probably
started comedy earlier,” Ginzburg
told Brooklyn Paper.
This time around, she said
the audience can expect lots
of timely jokes about the pandemic
— because what else did
comedians have to do for the
past 18 months?
“We are going to joke about
it,” she said. “What could be
better than to laugh about this
unknown, whatever this is.”
Brooklyn star lost
Coney Island Comedy Festival to
return for three nights this month
BROOKLYN
Laughs by the sea Coney Island Comedy Festival
at Ruby’s Bar and Grill
(1213 Riegelmann Boardwalk
between W. 12th Street and
Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island)
Sept. 16 —17 at 9 pm.
Free.
Coney Island Comedy Festival
at Coney Island Brewery
(Maimonides Park, 1904 Surf
Ave. between W. 16th Street
and W. 21st Street) Sept. 16–
18 at 7 pm. Free.
Irina Ginzburg (Upa inSpace) is hosting the second in-person comedy
festival Sept. 16–18. Photo by Irina Ginzburg