On Jan. 4, Rickey Smiley took to his syndicated morning show to respond to claims made by Katt Williams during the Jan. 3 episode of “Club Shay Shay” with Shannon Sharpe. On the podcast, Williams claimed that after a terrible experience with Smiley, he put in his movie contracts that he would not work with his fellow comedian unless he wore a dress. Williams states that this was the reason Smiley had to wear a dress for his role in the “First Sunday” film.
While on “Club Shay Shay,” Williams went in on several comedians during his interview, including Cedric the Entertainer, whom he said stole one of his jokes. He also slammed Tyler Perry and Smiley for playing female roles in films. Perry is well-known for playing the female character “Madea” in several of his movies, and Smiley played his alter ego “Bernice Jenkins” in “First Sunday.”
Williams told host Shannon Sharpe that Smiley wanted their roles in “Friday After Next” to be reversed. Smiley played Santa Claus in the film while Williams played Money Mike, and Williams went off about the “Dish Nation” radio host, telling Sharpe that he initially was cast to play Money Mike.
“This man told you he had Katt Williams’ role. He was going to be Money Mike, and Katt Williams was going to be the Santa Claus,” he said. “We auditioned in Los Angeles. I was audition No. 201. Two hundred Black comedians auditioned for the role of Money Mike with me. You’re saying all 201 of us was auditioning, and you had already had the role and had already shot the role in four days?”
Williams went on to say that Smiley would tell everyone on the set of the film that he was a bigger star than Williams because he’s on the radio with Steve Harvey and Cedric The Entertainer.
“He was so egregious that I put in my contract I won’t work with Rickey Smiley again unless he’s in a dress,” added Williams while drinking liquor. “Now what was Ricky Smiley’s next movie? Was it ‘First Sunday’? Did he wear a dress in it? You bet he did. It was in my contract.”
Smiley denied Williams’ accusations during the Jan. 4 episode of “The Rickey Smiley Morning Show” and said the film’s director, David E. Talbert, personally asked him to play Jenkins in the movie. He also gave Williams credit for playing Money Mike and said his role was switched after he had auditioned and cast as Money Mike.
“I went out to audition for ‘Friday After Next’ as Money Mike, not as Santa Claus,” he said 38 minutes into his segment. “That is the honest-to-God truth.”
He went on to reveal that the initial plan for Money Mike was not for him to be the pimp that Kat Williams portrayed, but more of a panhandler that hung out in the strip mall parking lot.
“I guess the producers, Cube, and everybody saw something different,” he added, noting that the decision to add Williams’ pimp moves to the character of Money Mike was “a better decision and made it funnier.”
Smiley added that after the next time he returned to Los Angeles, the producers told him his role had been changed to Santa Claus. He also had his manager on the show to confirm that he auditioned for Money Mike, not Santa Claus. The 55-year-old comedian also said, “There was no contract, ever,” while adding that he respected Williams but he was “disappointed.”
The “Baggage Claim” actor also defended his himself for playing female characters and noted that many celebrated comedians have also done so.
“Comedy greats like Flip Wilson played Geraldine. Richard Pryor played some roles on his show,” he noted. “Uh, Jamie Fox played Wonda, Martin played Shenaynay, I did Bernice Jenkins, Tyler Perry did Madea. There’s a lot of comics and a lot of comedy greats that did characters for the sake of funny, for entertainment, for the sake of the laugh, and it has nothing to do with — nobody’s comfortable in the role. Nobody wants to put on a damn dress or [is] comfortable in it. It has nothing to do with my manhood being lessened.”
“We want to wish Katt Williams the best,” Smiley added. “There’s nothing but love over here.”
After Smiley’s response was shared by The Shade Room on Instagram, comedian Michael Blackson replied, “Let’s all pray for Katt, the neega is smoking something different. Love u Katt little neega.”
Smiley added that wearing a dress for comedy’s sake put food on the table for his family while his manager added that it was an art form and prop. Smiley also addressed Williams’ claim that he isn’t funny and noted that his shows in theaters have sold out since 1997.
