Comedian Anthony 'AJ' Johnson Dead at 55
Anthony Johnson best known for his role as EZAL in Friday has passed away. The cause is his death is unknown at the time. News of the Anthony Johnson's death broke first on twitter and was confirmed by TMZ who spoke with Anthony Johnson's nephew. AJ was found unconscious in a store earlier this month in Los Angeles. He was rushed to a medical facility and pronounced dead.
The actor was first spotted on Def Comedy Jam where he quickly made a name for himself in the comedy world.
He also played a version Eazy E in Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg's video Dre Day in which they called him Sleazy E. A role so good he ended up getting a gun pulled on him from Suge Knight. He spoke about the ordeal with VLADTV, "Dr. Dre put me in his video as Sleazy E" after a run in with the rapper at the Comedy Store. Despite being cool with Easy E at the time. "I did the video for Dre... then Easy called me he goes 'You know everybody thought that was me in the video. He goes you gotta do my video to show people that wasn't me!' AJ goes on to do Easy E's video "Real Compton City Gz" After one day of shooting on Easy E's video Suge Knight gets word that AJ is doing the video and calls the comedian into his office to tell him not to do the video.
AJ explained to Suge that he is a comedian and needs to pay his rent. "Suge pulls a gun out slams it on his desk and says 'I said you can't do it!' AJ goes back to tell Easy and arranges for another comedian to finish the video. "So in the first half its me, in the second half its Arnez J. So the money that Eazy give to me I had to give to Arnez J"
It was a scene stealing role of EZAL in Friday that made Anthony AJ Johnson a legend in homes all across America. He will be missed by name. Anthony AJ Johnson was 55.
