Erica Ash, an actor and comedian skilled in sketch comedy who starred in the parody series “Mad TV” and “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” has died. She was 46.
Ash died Sunday in Los Angeles because of cancer, according to her publicist and a statement by her mother, Diann. “Erica was an amazing woman and talented entertainer who touched countless lives with her sharp wit, humor, and genuine zest for life. Her memory will live eternally in our hearts,” the statement said.
Ash impersonated Michelle Obama and Condoleezza Rice on “Mad TV,” a Fox sketch series, and was a key performer on the Rosie O’Donnell-created series “The Big Gay Sketch Show.” Her other credits included “Scary Movie V,” “Uncle Drew” and the LeBron James-produced basketball dramedy “Survivor’s Remorse.”
On the BET series “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” Ash played the ex-wife of Kevin Hart’s character. Ash told the Los Angeles Times in 2017 that for awhile, the only roles she was offered were similar to that character, but she wanted to have a more varied career.
“I want to make choices based on what I want to read about myself when I’m older. For me, it’s just about growing and moving forward,” she told the Times.
She appeared in the Broadway production “Baby It’s You” and a touring production of “The Lion King.”
Ash attended Emory University to study medicine but took a break and went to Japan, where she performed and modeled and her career flourished.
“One thing led to another, so I tell people I’m the Forrest Gump of my field. I just blindly, by faith, walked through life and said ‘yes’ to things that were presented to me, and it led me here,” Ash told the Times.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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