Tragic news
The family of Oscar-nominated director John Singleton have confirmed that his life support is to be switched off. He is 51 years old.
Singleton was admitted to hospital in Los Angeles last week after suffering a major stroke.
“It is with heavy hearts we announce that our beloved son, father and friend, John Daniel Singleton will be taken off of life support today,” a spokesperson for the family told
Deadline. “This was an agonizing decision, one that our family made, over a number of days, with the careful counsel of John’s doctors."
https://twitter.com/TV_SteveWilks/status/1122914076089176064
It had wrongly been reported earlier on Monday that Singleton had died.
In 1992, John Singleton became the first African American and youngest ever person to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar, for his acclaimed debut
Boyz In The Hood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C--iuM8NcQc
The film was inspired by his own childhood growing up in South Central Los Angeles, California. It starred Lawrence Fishburn and Cuba Gooding Jr, and marked the acting debut of rapper Ice Cube.
Singleton would follow up his success with other acclaimed depictions of African American life, including
Poetic Justice and
Higher Learning.
Later in his career, he would turn to more commercial action movies, including the remake of
Shaft with Samuel L Jackson, and
2 Fast 2 Furious.
He would also work in television, directing for
American Crime Story: The People Vs OJ Simpson, and creating the FX
Snowfall.
