Since his early days in the group N.W.A., rapper Ice Cube has never been one to mince words with those who brought displeasure to him or the Black community.
Decades later, this reality remains the same as the 51-year-old calls out Warner Bros. for opting to not move forward with another film in the “Friday” franchise.
On social media the West Coast rapper posted, “#freefriday from the jaws of Warner Bros. who refuses to make more sequels. They have hi-jacked the happiness of the culture,” along with a cartoon drawing of some of the film’s characters.
In June 2020, Ice Cube said he’d been working to get a fourth installment made for over a decade.
“I’m just a little frustrated with the process, you know, I would hope New Line [Cinema, production company behind the ‘Friday’ films] and give the movie back so we can go make it for real,” he explained during an interview for High Note.
The franchise is responsible for helping to launch comedians Chris Tucker and Mike Epps’ acting careers, as well as increasing screen time for the likes of John Witherspoon, Bernie Mac, Nia Long, Regina King and others.
While Ice Cube, Epps and Witherspoon went on to film the 2000 sequel “Next Friday” and 2002 release “Friday After Next,” there was still buzz of Tucker, who played Smokey, possibly making a return.
While being interviewed by NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe on “Club Shay Shay” in January 2021, Tucker revealed the cult classic only made him $10,000 but afforded him multi-million dollar opportunities in the industry.
However, even with there being multiple successful sequels birthed from the 1995 hit, and endless pleas from fans for him to resume his role of Smokey, Tucker says it’s simply not an option.
“Some people say do it, some people say don’t, but for me personally, I probably won’t because I never want to short change my audience and my fans,” Tucker explained. “Because, I know they want it because that’s what they know, they love it, and I’m glad that they love it, but I don’t want to come back in something that I probably can’t do what they want, you know, me to do, because I’ve grown, and not only grown, I’m different.”
Since conversations of a new installment in the franchise coming to fruition have stalled, “Friday” fans and the cast have lost both Witherspoon, in 2019, and actor Tommy Lister Jr., who played Debo, in 2020.
Still fans are holding out hope that a fourth and final film will one day reach audiences.
“We all can come together to help, it helped Dave Chappelle get his name back.”
“Last Friday” would set box office records. Warner Bros. is sleeping on this one.”
“Who doesn’t love Friday.”
