Grizz Chapman, the actor and internet personality known for playing a character of the same name on 30 Rock, has died at 52. He reportedly died on Friday, May 22.
Chapman was born in Brooklyn on April 16, 1974, and became a familiar face to television viewers after Tracy Morgan cast him and Kevin Brown as his character’s primary two confidants on 30 Rock. Before that, Chapman was working as a bouncer when he met Morgan, a connection that helped launch his screen career. He also reached a height of seven feet tall, a detail that made him impossible to miss both on the street and on camera.
His cousin, Donte “Hammer” Harrison, said in an Instagram tribute that Chapman “fought them with strength and dignity until the very end” after years of illness and dialysis. Harrison also said many people knew Chapman as the sitcom star from 30 Rock, “but we knew the man behind the screen,” describing him as someone with “a good heart, good energy, and somebody who made an impact in this life.”
Chapman had openly battled kidney disease for many years and underwent a kidney transplant in 2010 after spending years on dialysis. Harrison said Chapman “passed peacefully in his sleep on May 22nd, 2026” and added that he was thankful they reconnected two months before his death. Chapman leaves behind a wife and two children.
His career extended beyond 30 Rock. Chapman also appeared in The Good Fight, The Blacklist and Blue Bloods, and he was known online for his YouTube sketch video series Grizz Chroniclez. That mix of mainstream television work and internet comedy gave him a following that reached far beyond the role that made him famous.
The loss lands hardest because Chapman was not just a recognizable face; he was someone who had already spent years surviving a serious illness while still working, performing and staying visible to the people who followed him. His death closes a life that moved from Brooklyn streets to national television, and it leaves behind a family and a body of work that fans will keep revisiting.
