There’s been some controversy surrounding the movie “Friday” after Faizon Love revealed that he was only paid $2500 for his role.
Ice Cube, who was his co-star, was forced to defend himself on Twitter after he was accused of “robbing” Love, something he denied. However, Love came to his offense soon after.
On Wednesday, the Big Worm actor shared an Instagram photo of himself posted up with an ice cube and expressed his gratitude for the rapper and former co-star.
“First of all I not only consider Ice Cube a comrade but my brother and I’m still a fan. I think he’s one of the dopest n*ggas to ever tough a mic,” he wrote in a caption. “I guess it’s a slow news week so let me say what I got paid is a moot point, it was the price of admission to a game. I have zero regrets. Actually, I want to take this time to thank Cube Dj Pooh and Felix Gary Grey for letting me be apart of such an iconic picture. I truly have nothing but Love For these brothers.”
The comments stemmed from a recent interview Love did with Comedy Hype earlier this month, saying he was offered double-scale to reprise the role of Big Worm (which amounted to $5,000) to appear in the 2000 sequel Next Friday. He said he declined the offer to star in the 2000 film The Replacements for a $100,000 payday instead.
“It wasn’t about the money,” Love said. The actor told Comedy Hype he would work on a Friday Sequel for lower pay on general principle because of the original movie’s positive impact on his career.
Ice Cube took to Twitter on Monday to note that the film had a limited budget, and that was understood when the performers signed up for the motion picture.
“I didn’t rob no f***in body,” he wrote in response to a Twitter user’s remarks on a piece by Atlanta Black Star summarizing Love’s appearance on Comedy Hype.
Friday grossed $27 million in the United States and launched two more movies in the series, Next Friday and Friday After Next. Another Twitter user commented, “I thought i heard chris tucker quit over money,” in regards to the sequel.
Cube responded to the comment 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.”
Ice Cube, who also produced the movies, said Tucker didn’t return to play Smokey because of “religious reasons.”
