Dave Chappelle is considered a comedic genius, but his acting career might have taken off sooner had he not passed on a role in “Forrest Gump.”
The Robert Zemeckis-directed film was released in 1994 and starred Tom Hanks in the titular role. Several reports claim that Chappelle was up for the role of Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue, Gump’s wartime friend.
A resurfaced stand-up bit by the comedian revealed that Chappelle was opposed to playing the soldier who dreamed of owning a shrimp boat company. As most know, Bubba was wounded during the Vietnam War and succumbed to his injuries before realizing his dream.
The role ultimately went to Mykelti Williamson after Ice Cube and David Allen Grier reportedly passed on the gig.
In the audio from Chappelle’s bit, he said, “They tried to get me in ‘Forrest Gump.’ My agent was like, ‘I can get you in it. This movie’s gonna win an Oscar.’ And I said, ‘I must’ve read the wrong script; this script stunk when I read it.”
The entertainer explained that he took issue with Bubba’s depiction as a dim-witted Black man. In the 1986 Winston Groom novel, Bubba is written as being more intelligent than Gump.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t know any retarded heroes … You get mad because you gotta watch this dummy do more s—t by accident than you’ll ever dream of doing,” he said in the resurfaced clip.
“Who can be dumber than Forrest Gump? His Black friend, that’s who. No matter how dumb a white dude is, they’re always going to find a n—ga who’s dumber,” he said. He also doubted the film’s prospects for success.
“Forrest Gump” went on to make $678.2 million at the box office, far surpassing its $55 million budget. The film also won in a handful of categories at the 67th Academy Awards ceremony, as well as a BAFTA award, trophies at the Golden Globes, and the list goes on. Fan reactions to the revelation include:
“When keeping it real goes wrong…For Real!”
“Even though he would’ve made more money sooner, he may have been typecast and never became what he is today. A whole legend.”
“The fact that they dumbed down the character yeah I understand why Dave said no and even though it was financially a success who gives a s—t not all money is good money they should’ve let the character stay how originally the writer wanted it smarter than Forrest and acting as a big brother I would’ve like that.”
Chappelle would go on to appear in “You’ve Got Mail” alongside Hanks in 1998.
