Jennifer Hudson saw Matthew “Matt” Wright on Thursday, October 29, when he stopped by the set of The Jennifer Hudson Show during its Halloween taping. Wright, one of the producers who helped Hudson launch the show in 2022, died the next day at 52.
Wright served as a consulting producer during the show’s first season. He came to it after 16 years on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where he became an executive producer and occasionally appeared in comedy sketches.
Andy Lassner, who had worked alongside Wright on Ellen and went on to executive produce Hudson’s show, shared photographs of their reunion on November 1. Lassner said the pictures were taken that Thursday, just hours before his friend’s death.
Wright had been working remotely in Los Angeles. His husband, Justin, and his father, sister and niece were in New York, according to a fundraising appeal for the family. The family has not disclosed a cause of death.
Hudson Shares a Backstage Moment With Wright
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In one of the two photographs Hudson shared on Instagram on November 2, she and Wright pose together on her set. The other catches them at work. Wright stands beside a seated Hudson and points to a cue card as she looks down at it, according to People.
“He made such a huge impact on so many people in this industry and beyond!” Hudson wrote. She offered her condolences to his family and loved ones.
Lassner remembered the trips Wright made from Los Angeles to New York nearly every weekend to look after his mother before she died. He said Wright brought that same care to his friendships. “We should have had so much more time with him,” Lassner wrote.
DeGeneres and Wright Had Planned to Work Together Again
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DeGeneres said in her own November 2 tribute that she and Wright had been preparing to start another project together. She recalled how often he surprised her on their talk show. “God, he made me laugh,” she said.
Her video included footage of Wright in costume for a Thanksgiving segment and handing out pickles to members of the studio audience. The montage closed with the words “We love you, Matt,” according to Us Weekly.
Wright had written his own thank-you when the show ended in 2022. He said that, in his years there, he had made some of his closest friends, met his heroes and even fallen in love, according to ABC News.
Friends Help Wright’s Family Bring Him Home to New York
The Leman family organized a GoFundMe on behalf of Mandy Wright. The organizers said Wright and Justin had both been laid off over the summer. They asked for help bringing Wright home to New York, covering the funeral there and holding a memorial in Los Angeles.
The public donor list included a $5,000 contribution under DeGeneres’ name and a $1,000 contribution under Lassner’s, according to TMZ. The organizers said any money left after those expenses would go into a trust for Wright’s niece, Sami.
Wright’s friends also left a suggestion for anyone who wanted to remember him at dinner. Think of the man who liked to order an extra appetizer for the whole table, they wrote, and imagine him looking down at the menu choices, “wildly disappointed in what you ordered.”