Ice Cube Explains Why Chris Tucker Didn’t Return For ‘Next Friday’ + Addresses Rumors That He Didn’t Pay Cast Fairly

Ice Cube took to Twitter to address some comments concerning his movies, “Friday” and “Next Friday.”

Faizon Love, who played the character Big Worm “Friday,” recently told Comedy Hype that he was only paid $2,500 for his role. The interview surfaced online and a Twitter user accused Ice Cube of “robbing his own people” for the amount Faizon was paid. Ice Cube quickly shut down those accusations.

Ice Cube says via Twitter, “I didn’t rob no f****n 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 sh*t.”

Faizon didn’t claim Ice Cube of “robbing him” but he did make it clear that he wasn’t returning to the film’s franchise because the amount he was paid. He says, “If Cube said, ‘Faizon, there’s no money. I need you to do this.’ I would have to do it on GP because it was that character that brought me into the game heavy.”

Faizon was offered a role in ‘Next Friday,’ for $5,000, but declined.

Ice Cube also commented on why Chris Tucker didn’t reprise he role of “Smokey.” Many speculated that it was because of money, but Ice Cube made it clear that Tucker left because of “religious reasons. “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.”