A new petition to name a Broadway theater in honor of late performer Nick Cordero has amassed nearly 30,000 signatures.
The campaign, launched Tuesday by Robert Neary, proposes renaming New York City's Longacre Theatre after Cordero, who died Sunday at 41 after a long and highly publicized battle with COVID-19. Cordero delivered his last Broadway performance at the Longacre as crime boss Sonny in "A Bronx Tale."
"With the passing of this incredibly talented and beloved Broadway star, it is the perfect memory for him and his family legacy, to assure his name will always be in lights in the Broadway Community," the petition's description reads.
Touching tributes from fans, friends and family have poured in since Cordero's death, which has devastated the Broadway community. Chazz Palminteri, who wrote "A Bronx Tale" for the stage and played Cordero's onscreen counterpart in the 1993 film, shared the petition on Tuesday, tweeting, "This cause is close to my heart -- please sign."
Palminteri also encouraged his followers to "please open your heart and give" to a GoFundMe page that has raised more than $1 million for Cordero's wife, fitness instructor Amanda Kloots, and their 1-year-old son, Elvis.
"We lost One of the Great Ones today," Palminteri wrote on Instagram Monday. "My friend Nick Cordero passed. Let's all pray for him , Amanda & Elvis. RIP my friend."
Cordero's "Bullets Over Broadway" costar Zach Braff also saluted his friend Tuesday on his podcast, "Fake Doctors, Real Friends," with fellow "Scrubs" alum Donald Faison. In the episode, Braff recalled Cordero's final days as his health "deteriorated" and his lungs resembled "Swiss cheese."
Because of the pandemic, he lamented not being able to comfort Kloots as she cried, despite the fact that she and Elvis were staying in his guest house while Cordero was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
"There's so many people that love Amanda and Elvis, and we're all going to be doing our part to help give this child an extraordinary life," Braff said. "The last thing Nick texted me before he went unconscious was 'Please look out for Amanda and Elvis,' and I promise that I'm going to do that for the rest of my life, and I want to make him proud."
On Wednesday, Kloots shared the latest cover of People magazine, which features Cordero, and reflected on the love she has received from "the people of the world" who "have held us up and supported us every day."
"As I look back on these last three months and at how hard we all fought, especially Nick, I'm in awe of my husband," she wrote on Instagram. "He always said that he thought people felt scared or intimidated by him at first because he was 6'5", but Nick was everyone's friend! He looked you in the eyes, made you feel important, went the extra step to be there for others."