Ice Cube is setting the record straight about whether actors in the 1995 comedy classic Friday were paid fairly after he was accused online of underpaying them.
His co-star Faizon Love, who played the character Big Worm in the movie, gave a recent interview to Comedy Hype in which he claimed he was paid only $2,500 for his role in Friday. “It wasn’t about the money then,” Love said while arguing that playing Big Worm allowed him to get work in Hollywood. He added, “Hell no, hell no! You can’t be, you can’t” when asked if he felt “bitter” about his pay.
But he later confirmed that money was the reason why he turned down the offer to reprise his role in the sequel Next Friday. “They wanted to give me double scale. So scale was $2,500, right? So double scale was $5,000,” Love broke down. “The day after I said ‘No,’ I got a call to do a film for Warner Brothers called [The] Replacements, and they paid me $100,000. So I ain’t crazy.”
While sharing an article highlighting Love’s argument about the pay, one Twitter user wrote on Wednesday (Dec. 29), “Yo it’s wild how @icecube act like he for the people and whole time been robbing his own people…..Pay them people @FAIZONLOVE @christuckerreal #RipAjjohnson.”
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Cube defended himself on the social platform by writing, “I didn’t rob no f—in body. The 1995 Friday move 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 simple said ‘No’ but they didn’t. So miss me with that sh–…”
I didn’t rob no fuckin 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 simple said “No” but they didn’t. So miss me with that shit… https://t.co/2K1dUFZ489
— Ice Cube (@icecube) December 29, 2021
Friday was directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Ice Cube (who played one of the main characters, Craig Jones) and DJ Pooh (who played Red). It grossed $27 million in the United States and launched two more movies in the series, Next Friday (2000) and Friday After Next (2002). Regarding the sequel, another Twitter user replied to Cube by writing, “I thought i heard chris tucker quit over money.” In Love’s Comedy Hype interview, he explained how he convinced Tucker to do Rush Hour alongside Jackie Chan after he had turned down returning as his character Smokey in Next Friday.
In his rebuttal, Cube replied on Twitter, “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
In September, Cube mourned the loss of his Friday co-star Anthony “AJ” Johnson, who died at age 55. “Sad to wake up to the news about AJ Johnson passing away. Naturally funny dude who was straight outta Compton at the same time,” he wrote at the time. “Sorry I couldn’t bring your character Ezal back to the big screen in Last Friday…”