Publicist: Bernie Mac hospitalized

CHICAGO, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Comedian Bernie Mac has been hospitalized in Chicago for treatment of pneumonia, the TV star's publicist says.

Publicist Danica Smith said the "King of Comedy" star was in a Chicago hospital Friday and responded to medical treatment for the illness, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Smith said the bout of pneumonia was not related to the comedian's sarcoidosis, an immune system disorder Mac had been diagnosed with in the past. Mac's sarcoidosis went into remission in 2005, she added.

The Tribune said Mac, whose real name is Bernard Jeffery McCullough, was in the headlines last month after making questionable comments during a Chicago fundraiser for presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, including jokes about having a black U.S. president and the Republican Party.