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Coming to America star Louie Anderson has passed away following a battle with blood cancer.
The 68-year-old comedian was recently being treated for Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma at a Las Vegas hospital.
It was announced that Louie had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and was undergoing treatment earlier this month.
His publicist has told TMZ that he died on Friday morning.
Throughout his three-decade long career, Louie became known as one of America's most beloved comics.
He was previously named as "One of 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians of All Time" by Comedy Central.
Louie is best known for his role as Mom Baskets on Zach Galifianakis' comedy series Baskets and starring in Coming to America alongside Eddie Murphy.
Heartbroken fans have taken to social media to pay tribute to the star.
Taking to Twitter, one fan penned: "Real sad to hear about Louis Anderson passing. RIP"
Another added: "January is not letting up! Louis Anderson and Meatloaf in the same day???"
A third person posted: "Rest in Peace Louis Anderson. A true Minnesota original."
While a fourth social media user said: "So sad to hear about Louis Anderson. It's been far too long since I watched The Wrong Guys, which basically stayed in my VCR as a kid. Gonna have to remedy that today."
He was familiar face elsewhere on TV, including as host of a revival of the game show"Family Feud from 1999 to 2002, and on comedy specials and in frequent late-night talk show appearances.
Just last year, Louie made headlines when he opened up about his weight loss journey. and losing 30 to 40 pounds during the pandemic.
He said his body transformation was a result of intermittent fasting.
"I started the pandemic at about 370 or 380 pounds depending on what I was leaning on," Anderson told Conan O'Brien during a talk show appearance.
"And now I'm 340. I'm trying to get 275 so I can get into some of my mom's actual clothes," he added, alluding to his female character on Baskets.
"Im on the intermittent fast – one minute I'm eating, the next minute I'm not."
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He added more seriously: "No, it's a wonderful thing, the intermittent fasting," he said.
The comedy legend won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series and for his role as "Christine" in 2016 – Baskets ran for four seasons until 2019.
Louie continued to tour worldwide before being hospitalised earlier this month.
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- Tributes
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