Ice Cube Explains Why Chris Tucker Didn't Return to 'Friday' Franchise
Ice Cube revealed on Twitter that Chris Tucker declined $12 million to portray Smokey in Next Friday, and also spoke out against Faizon Love.
It's been over 25 years since the release of Friday, and rumors are still swirling about the IceCube-produced. In an attempt to put gossip to rest, Cube took to Twitter yesterday and spoke about Chris Tucker's departure and being accused of "robbing" Faizon Love who played Big Worm.
"We were ready to pay Chris Tucker $10-12m to do Next Friday but he turned us down for religious reasons," said Cube. "He didn’t want to cuss or smoke weed on camera anymore."
The sentiment was echoed by Tucker in an interview with podcast Flix Talk in November.“
Back then, I gotta tell you, one of the reasons why I didn’t do [Next Friday] is because of the weed. Because I said, ‘Man, that movie became a phenomenon. I don’t want everybody smokin’ weed,'" said Tucker, who was paid $10,000 to star in Friday. "I never really told people this because I kinda forgot about it but it was one of the reasons why I didn’t do it. Because I said, ‘I don’t want to represent everyone smokin’ weed.’ I kinda made it more personal than a movie and that’s one of the reasons I said, ‘Nah, I don’t want to keep doing that character.’ “
While speaking with Comedy Hype, Love referenced his role as Big Worm in Friday, to which he agreed to be paid $2,500.
“See, it wasn’t really about the money then. I got to say I’m working, pay my rent, I ain’t out in the street doing no bulls**t," Love said. “It wasn’t iconic when we did it."
Love also said that he was offered the chance to return in Next Friday, he pay being doubled to $5,000. He instead accepted a role as Jamal Abdul Jackson #72 in 2000 sports comedy film The Replacements for $100,000.
In response, Ice Cube argued that Love was paid fairly.
""I didn’t rob no fuckin body," said Cube. "The 1995 Friday movie cost $2.3m to make. Shot it in 20 days. Fazion [sic] worked 1 day, maybe 2. All the actors got paid scale to do the movie. They could’ve simple said 'No' but they didn’t. So miss me with that shit."