‘True Blood’ Fans Are Honoring Lafayette After Actor Nelsan Ellis Passed Away

Even when True Blood struggled to recapture the sexy/campy/quality ratio that made the early seasons so watchable, you could always count on one thing: for LaFayette to be one of the best characters on the show. He was certainly the most quotable, dishing out meals at Bellefleur’s Bar and Grill and eternally sassy one-liners like, “Wrong place at the wrong f*cking time oughta be my middle f*cking name” and “I ain’t Gmail for dead b*tches.”

That’s what makes it so sad — and frankly, shocking — that actor Nelsan Ellis has passed away after complications with heart failure at age 39.

True Blood creator Alan Ball called him a “singular talent whose creativity never ceased to amaze me,” while HBO praised Ellis for being “a long-time member of the HBO family whose groundbreaking portrayal of Lafayette will be remembered fondly within the overall legacy of True Blood.” (Lafayette is one of the few proudly gay black characters in television history.) Fans of the hit vampire series, which aired for 70 episodes over seven seasons, as well as Ellis’ other work, including roles in The Butler, The Help, and The Stanford Prison Experiment, are paying tribute to the late actor on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/chrissahardy/status/883763081024724992

https://twitter.com/FATHERBONNET/status/883766814643191808

There’s one scene in particular that defined everything great about Lafayette.

https://twitter.com/allanbrocka/status/883769845401010176

https://twitter.com/shootmeadub/status/883770824552988673

https://twitter.com/aherman2006/status/883768269127073792