Ice Cube recently had to shut down accusations made via Twitter about “robbing his own people”, referring to the alleged minimal pay that actors received for their roles that would go on to be staples in the Black community.
The backlash came after Twitter user HNDRXX2 (@SO_AMBITIOUS_28) retweeted a clip of Friday actor and comedian, Faizon Love‘s, comments in an article from The Atlanta Black Star. Love was noted saying he turned down reprising his role as Big Worm because he received $2,500 for the job, something that fans think was nominal compared to the major impact that was felt from the actors portrayal of the neighborhood “Ice Cream” man.
The actor was also noted saying he wasn’t going to return to the franchise because, “It wasn’t iconic when we did it.” On being offered to return for Next Friday, “They wanted to give me double-scale. The scale was $2,500, right. So that was $5,000.” Implying that the rate simply wasn’t enough to come back.
Friday has been under some scrutiny for a while now as fans point out how major player, Smokie (Chris Tucker), made his debut only to never return. After another Twitter user pointed this out, Cube commented, “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.”
On the contrary Next Friday actor, Michael Blackson, came to Ice Cube’s defense saying “@IceCube is not to be blamed for us getting paid so little it’s the film industry’s pay scale. I got paid $800 a day when I did Next Friday plus overtime I made $1200 for my one day’s work of “I can get giggy with this shit” Thanks to Next Friday I became the biggest African comic.”
With all the back and forth of what went down on and behind the scenes of the iconic movie franchise, the Friday movies will remain a staple in the community keeping its stronghold on our hearts. In the words of Smokey – “And you know this man!!!”
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