The rapper and actor revealed the budget for his 1995 classic, and why the comedian didn’t want to take part in the sequel.
Ice Cube clapped back at fans who accused him of “robbing” actors who took part in his 1995 comedy Friday, which he wrote and starred in. While Chris Tucker was one of the movie’s top-billed stars, the now-52-year-old rapper admitted that Chris didn’t want to take part in some of the movie’s content due to his religious beliefs!
Before the revelations about Chris, the rapper responded to someone on Twitter who shared a screenshot of an interview with Faizon Love, who said he’d turned down appearing in the sequel after only making $2,500 off the original. After making it clear that he didn’t “rob” anyone, Ice shared the ins-and-outs of making a movie. “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,” he wrote on Wednesday December 29. “They could’ve simple said ‘No’ but they didn’t. So miss me with that s**t.”
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
A fan had responded to his tweet mentioning that they’d heard that the now-50-year-old comedian had declined to be in the sequel because of money, but the former N.W.A. rapper shared the real reason. “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,” he tweeted.
Ice Cube is no stranger to responding to his critics on Twitter. During the 2020 election, Ice cleared the air when fans accused him of “going to the dark side” after tweeting that he’d “NEVER endorse” former President Donald Trump in a 2016 tweet. The rapper was responding to someone after a Trump advisor had tweeted a shoutout to Ice for working with Trump on a plan. Ice clarified the work he had done with his Contract with Black America. “Facts: I put out the CWBA. Both parties contacted me. Dems said we’ll address the CWBA after the election. Trump campaign made some adjustments to their plan after talking to us about the CWBA,” he wrote at the time.