Tracy Morgan Receives Key To Brooklyn On 50th Birthday

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Television star, comedian and Bed-Stuy native Tracy Morgan was granted a key to Brooklyn on his 50th birthday Friday.

Morgan, the creator and star of “The Last O.G.,” cried as Brooklyn President Eric Adams presented him with a golden key in a packed ceremony at Brooklyn Borough Hall.

“I’m from Brooklyn ... I’m in service to you,” said Morgan. “This my way to heaven. I always thought that way.”

Morgan lived in Bedford-Stuyvesant as a young man and his TBS show centers on an ex-convict who returns to the neighborhood and is stunned by how much it has changed.

Adams praised the show and noted how much of its content, and Morgan himself, ring true to people who love and remember Bed-Stuy before gentrification hit.

“When you hang out with him you feel no different than hanging out with someone standing on the corner of Tompkins Avenue with a Colt 45,” Adams said. “That’s exactly who he is.”

Actor Clifford Smith, also known as Method Man, also appeared at Brooklyn Borough Hall to honor Morgan’s philanthropic work.

"The Last O.G." has invested large amounts to Brooklyn neighborhood projects and Morgan co-hosted a comedy night that raised more than $14,000 for the Fortune Society, a New York nonprofit that helps former inmates acclimate to life outside of prison, according to a Forbes report.

The show also partnered with State Bags, a Brooklyn-based design company, to give $8,000 worth of bags and "The Last O.G." t-shirts to kids in Red Hook.

“Tracy never brags,” Smith said. “I had no idea that he did these things.”

The large crowd that gathered to view the ceremony stomped and cheered when Adams handed Morgan the golden borough key.

“I just want to thank you all for coming out here in the morning and in the rain,” said Morgan. “This key right here is for representing.”

Photo by Kathleen Culliton