Ice Cube is setting the record straight about Chris Tucker and Faizon Love’s involvement in the Friday franchise.
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According to Hot News Hip Hop, Faizon Love said that he turned down reprising his role in Next Friday because according to him, he was only paid $2,500 to make the original.
“See, it wasn’t really about the money then,” he said about why he took the role in the first film, according to EurWeb. “I got to say I’m working, pay my rent. I ain’t out in the street doing now bull–t. It wasn’t iconic when we did it.”
“They wanted wanted to give me double scale [for Next Friday]. The scale was $2,500…So that was $5,000.” He said the money offered wasn’t enough for him, so he took a role The Replacements for $100,000.
Ice Cube, who writes and stars in the franchise as well as produce, tweeted the opposite.
“I didn’t rob no f—n’ body,” he wrote. “The 1995 Friday movie cost $2.3m to make. Shot it in 20 days. Faizon 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 sh–t.”
He also said that Tucker turned down Next Friday over personal reasons.
“We were ready to pay Chris Tucker $10-$12m to do Next Friday but he turned us down for religious reasons,” he said. “He didn’t want to cuss or smoke weed on camera anymore.”
It’s not Love’s first time making bold claims. Recently, Love talked about Nicole Byer’s Netflix special, Nicole Byer: BBW (Big Beautiful Weirdo), saying on Instagram, “So after very long consideration I felt the only way to get a Netflix special is to become an unfunny Black woman. My new name is Nicole Byer…this is my transformation.” His comment led to a backlash on social media, with commenters accusing him of being bitter and a gatekeeper.
