Former Soul Train host Shemar Moore said his “heart is heavy†after hearing about the suicide of Don Cornelius and says it was impossible to fill his shoes. Click below to find out more.
Moore, who hosted Soul Train from 1999 to 2003, released a statement saying, Cornelius was “one of a kind†… and “showed generation after generation over 40 years how to keep it funky and get your groove on every Saturday morning on ‘The Hippest Trip In America’â€.
Moore added he was honored that Don gave him the opportunity to host Soul Train for 5 years, but insists, “I didn’t dare try to fill his shoes because it just couldn’t be done! Don was The Man!!”
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Shemar Moore tells ET exclusively that the late Soul Train creator Don Cornelius, who died today of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot, may have been dealing with the effects of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.
The former Soul Train host tells ET, “I don’t know what his health was like. I had heard rumors that it was early [onset] dementia, Alzheimer’s, things like that.”
“I’d heard that he was sick,” he continues. “If he did line all his ducks up, so to speak, if he did deal with all his personal things to have this departure, then I tip my cap to him because that’s a show of love — I’m going to love the people around me, I’m going to give you all I’ve got — and maybe he felt like he was tapped out, you know? And he, for himself, felt he needed to take care of himself in his way.”
“I hope that wherever he is now, he’s at peace,” adds Shemar. “I don’t know how he got to this place. I don’t know what made him take his own life this morning. But after we shed our tears, after we say our prayers, after we put him to rest in our own ways, I hope there’s a lot of celebration.”
Cornelius died Wednesday morning in his Los Angeles home of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound; the Los Angeles Police Department and the county coroner’s office said it appears to be suicide. He was 75 years old.
