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Gilbert Gottfried, a no-holds-barred comedian who ironically became best known as the voice of a talking parrot in a family-friendly Disney movie, has died. He was 67.
Gottfried's family announced the sad news on his official Twitter account, saying that Gottfried died after a "long illness".
The Washington Post reported that Gottfried died of complications from myotonic dystrophy type 2, a form of muscular dystrophy, citing Glen Schwartz, a publicist and friend of the comedian.
Gottfried is survived by his wife, Dara, his daughter, Lily, 14, and his son, Max, 12.
Tributes poured in from his friends and admirers, including TV host Conan O'Brien.
The comedian's comedian
Born in 1955, Gottfried performed amateur stand-up comedy in New York City at a young age.
This got him cast in the comedy show "Saturday Night Live", although only for a single season in 1980-1981.
Gottfried, known for his trademark screechy voice, was cast as Iago the parrot in Disney's "Aladdin" in 1992, the sidekick of the evil Jafar.
Gottfried would reprise this role in various sequels and even video games.
It was a twist of fate for a comedian who was also known for pushing boundaries, even at the risk of offending his audience.
In 2011, Gottfried was fired as the voice of the "Aflac duck", the mascot of insurance company Aflac, after making a series of crude jokes on Twitter about the Japan earthquake and tsunami disaster.
He later apologised for his tweets.
Gottfried was never one to shy away from taking risks in comedy, memorably performing an "iconic" rendition of the Aristocrats joke just shortly after the 9/11 attacks in New York.
He was close friends with another raunchy comedian known for his family-friendly role on the sitcom "Full House", Bob Saget.
A recent tweet by Gottfried also appeared to defend Chris Rock after the comedian was slapped by actor Will Smith at the Academy Awards for making a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.
Top image from the Fresh Prince of Disney YouTube video and Gilbert Gottfried Twitter.
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