Bad news for Bernie Mac’s fans. The funny man has pneumonia and he was hospitalized, beginning his treatment Friday. According to his publicist, Bernie Mac is being treated at a Chicago hospital with a bad case of pneumonia but the treatment seems to be working.

“Mr. Mac is responding well to treatment and will be released soon,” publicist Danica Smith told E! Online.

Also, the “King of Comedy” requested that his “privacy and that of his family” be “respected while he gets well, informed Danica Smith.  Bernie Mac’s publicist said that the pneumonia has nothing to do with Mac’s diagnosis of sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disorder that the 50-year-old comic was diagnosed with about 20 years ago. Apparently his sarcoidosis has been in remission since 2005, said his publicist, according to E! Online.

The disease is responsible for causing inflammation in organs, especially in the lungs. The comic spoke about his health, making public his condition, in 2005.

“I've had sarcoidosis since 1983, and it has not altered or limited my lifestyle. No one knows where sarcoidosis comes from or where it starts, and there's no known cause for this condition that effects primarily minorities,” told Bernie Mac to Star magazine's Website.

He was hospitalized after he finished the work on “Ocean’s Twelve.”

Allegedly, the disease can become fatal in about 5% of the cases and it was said that it was responsible for the death of Reggie White. Bill Russell, the basketball player, also suffers from the disorder.

Last month Bernie Mac also made headlines with his jokes during a Chicago fundraiser for the Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.