Ice Cube is finally opening up about why Chris Tucker quit the Friday franchise after the first film — and is insisting that money had nothing to do with it!
The revelation came after Faizon Love, who played Big Worm in the cult classic stoner buddy comedy, said in an interview that he turned down a role in the sequel after only making $2,500 from the original. After Faizon’s claims made some fans accuse Cube of “robbing” other Black artists, the rapper took to Twitter to set the record straight, telling fans:
“I didn’t rob no f**kin body. The 1995 Friday movie cost $2.3m to make. Shot it in 20 days. Fazion worked 1 day, maybe 2. All the actors got paid scale to do the movie. They could’ve [simply] said “No” but they didn’t. So miss me with that shit…”
Receipts!
But the former N.W.A. member didn’t stop there. As fans continued to reminisce about the rumored Friday drama that’s been circulating over the years since its 1995 release, the star decided to put one big rumor to rest: that Tucker exited the series over money.
The actor explained:
“We were ready to pay Chris Tucker $10-12m to do Next Friday but he turned us down for religious reasons. He didn’t want to cuss or smoke weed on camera anymore.”
We were ready to pay Chris Tucker $10-12m to do Next Friday but he turned us down for religious reasons. He didn’t want to cuss or smoke weed on camera anymore. https://t.co/1pfo1FHWzp
— Ice Cube (@icecube) December 29, 2021
Ah, so it was about a different kind of green! LOLz
Interestingly enough, Tucker opened up about his decision to bow out from the sequels just last month, explaining in an interview with All Urban Central:
“Back then, I gotta tell you, one of the reasons why I didn’t do the second one was because of the weed. Because I said, man, that movie became a phenomenon. I don’t want everybody smoking weed — and I never really told people this because I kind of forgot about it, but it was one of the reasons why I didn’t do it. Because I said, ‘I don’t wanna represent everybody smoking weed.’ And that’s one of the reasons why I said ‘nah.’ I didn’t wanna keep doing that character. It probably was good for me because it kept me moving to the next phase and next movies.”
But times have changed, and the comedian said he’d “definitely consider” coming back for a long-rumored fourth Friday movie. He shared:
“I always said — because I know my fans love the movies so much [and] they always bring it up — I said, well, if they come to me with a great script and a great idea, I’d definitely consider it. But it’s been so long ago and that character became such a great character. I don’t wanna mess it up.”
Fingers crossed!
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