Tracy Morgan is finally ready to return to television.
The Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock alum will appear on Monday’s Today show, in his first TV interview since he was critically injured in a car crash last June.
Morgan will be interviewed by Matt Lauer live in Today‘s Rockefeller Center studios and will be joined by his lawyer Benedict Morelli.
Apart from a few written statements sent out by Morgan’s team and paparazzi photos that have emerged since the incident, Morgan essentially hasn’t been seen or heard from since the accident. He had hoped to make it to SNL‘s 40th anniversary special in February, but he wasn’t able to attend. Still, Morgan’s 30 Rock co-stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin paid tribute to him from the stage.
The news of Morgan’s first interview comes a day after he reached a confidential settlement in a lawsuit he filed against Walmart over the crash, which occurred on the New Jersey Turnpike early in the morning on June 7, 2014.
Morgan suffered head trauma, a broken leg and broken ribs when a Walmart truck slammed into the back of a limo-van carrying him and two others. The group was traveling back from a show in Delaware. Comedian and fellow passenger James “Jimmy Mack” McNair was killed. Passengers Ardie Fuqua and Jeffrey Millea also suffered serious injuries in the crash and were plaintiffs in the Walmart lawsuit.
Morelli has said that Morgan suffered a traumatic brain injury and has repeatedly said that his client is fighting to get better but faces a tough recovery. In a November court appearance, Morelli said it’s unknown if the actor-comedian ever again will be “the Tracy Morgan he once was.”
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The truck driver, Kevin Roper, faces several criminal charges, including death by auto, in state court. According to the criminal complaint, he had been awake for more than 24 hours. A preliminary NTSB investigation estimated that Roper was driving 65 mph in the minute before he slammed into Morgan’s limo-van.
