Ice Cube has spoken up to set the record straight regarding Katt Williams‘ claims about his Money Mike role in “Friday After Next.”
Cube released the third film in his “Friday” trilogy back in 2002, but Williams recently set the internet ablaze after he slammed several other comedians during an appearance on “Club Shay Shay” on Jan. 3.
During the more than two-hour-long interview, Williams insulted multiple celebrities, including Rickey Smiley. Williams told “Club Shay Shay” host Shannon Sharpe that Smiley lied during his appearance on the podcast when he said he auditioned to play Money Mike in “Friday After Next.”
“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?”
Smiley replied to Williams’ claims by saying he indeed auditioned for the Money MIke role but ended up playing Santa Claus in the film after the producers changed their minds.
“I guess the producers, Cube, and everybody saw something different,” he said. Smiley also noted that the decision to add Williams as Money Mike was “a better decision and made it funnier.”
Ice Cube backed up Smiley and confirmed that the comedian auditioned to play Money Mike in the film in a video posted on X on Jan. 5. The “Check Yo Self” rapper explained that he only puts people in movies that he thinks are funny and he was happy to give them both opportunities.
“Katt was 100 on a few things, most of what he was saying,” Cube said, adding that he wanted to clarify a couple of other things.
“Ricky did give Money Mike a shot, but when we saw him, and you know, we kinda saw how he moved and how he was, you know, auditioning. We decided that he would be a better, you know, Santa Claus, which was to me the perfect casting. When we saw Katt, when I saw him, I just knew that he was perfect for Money Mike.”
Cube also noted that Williams added to the already written role, and it became a bigger part.
“Katt said he wrote his role which I mean the role was written but he enhanced it. This is why Katt was so dope in the movie. Money Mike had a small role you know, about as big as the Santa Claus role, but when we started filming he was giving us such magic that we kept expanding his role and giving him more to do because he was on point.”
The “Friday” actor also spoke on Williams’ claims that a rape scene was removed from “Friday After Next.” The comedian said that he went to the producers and told them “rape is never funny,” which prompted the scene to be removed.
Cube pushed back on that claim that he had the scene removed because he says there was never a rape scene in the film to begin with.
“At that point in everybody’s career, you know, we would listen to a certain extent, but we wasn’t going to change the movie for any actor,” he said. “We do what we feel and if it was a rape scene, it would have been in the movie. It was no reason not to shoot it but that’s not my style. I don’t even like that kind of s—t in movies on camera. And so, to me, that was a little discrepancy there.”
Katt Williams said in the original script Money Mike got raped in the bathroom and Katt Williams had to speak to the powers that be to change that part! He said Rickey Smiley was okay with the rape scene .. SMH pic.twitter.com/MBnl9SLIph
— Tamorah Shareef Muhammad (@ModestyQueen19) January 4, 2024
The 54-year-old went on to credit Williams’ performance in the film and noted that it launched his career. Fans reacted to the confirmation on X, with one replying, “Money Mike got everybody talking.” Another fan wrote, “Thanks for sharing, @icecube and Thanks for Friday after Next. That movie will never get old.”
Ice Cube also noted that the film was made more than 20 years ago, and people are entitled to have different perspectives.
