Don Cornelius, Soul Train Creator Dead

Don Cornelius, the creator of “Soul Train,” has died of a gunshot wound. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement that Cornelius was found at his Mulholland Drive home at around 4 a.m. and transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

USA Today reported that it was an apparent suicide.

He was 75.

“Soul Train” began in 1970 in Chicago on WCIU-TV as a local program and aired nationally from 1971 to 2006.

From AP:

It introduced television audiences to such legendary artists as Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Barry White and brought the best R&B, soul and later hip-hop acts to TV and had teenagers dance to them. It was one of the first shows to showcase African-Americans prominently, although the dance group was racially mixed. Cornelius was the first host and executive producer.

“There was not programming that targeted any particular ethnicity,” he said in 2006, then added: “I’m trying to use euphemisms here, trying to avoid saying there was no television for black folks, which they knew was for them.”

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