CHATTER AWAY: Overnight Open Thread

Variety reports:

Louie Anderson, the veteran comedian, game show host and three-time Emmy winner, has died. He was 68. The Baskets star died Friday morning in Las Vegas, where he had entered hospital this week for treatment of diffuse large B cell lymphoma, a form of cancer, his longtime publicist Glenn Schwartz told Deadline.

A constant presence on stage and screen since the mid-1980s, Anderson won the 2016 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Christine Baskets, the mother of the Zach Galifianakis-portrayed Chip and Dale on the FX series.

The actor was nominated in the category over three consecutive years starting in 2016 for his Baskets performance.

Yahoo News reports:

The comedian said little on the record about his private life. He married his high school sweetheart in 1985, but the marriage ended after four weeks. He was the subject of gay rumors, but he never said he was gay.

In the 1990s, he was blackmailed by a man named Richard Gordon, who said Anderson propositioned him for sex at a Vegas casino in 1993.

Anderson initially paid Gordon $100,000, but Gordon came back with a demand for $250,000 more. Anderson went to the police, who arrested Gordon in 2000 in an undercover sting operation. Gordon was convicted and imprisoned.