Actor Chris Tucker recently turned down $10-12MM for his role in the sequel of ‘Friday,’ and many are crediting the faith of Chris Tucker for guiding his decision and not allowing money to overrule his values.
When asked about it on Twitter, Ice Cube tweeted,
“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.”
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. https://t.co/1pfo1FHWzp
— Ice Cube (@icecube) December 29, 2021
He told All Urban Central that is was because of the weed. “Back then, I gotta tell you, one of the reasons why I didn’t do the second one was because of the weed. Because I said, man, that movie became a phenomenon. I don’t want everybody smoking weed — and I never really told people this because I kind of forgot about it, but it was one of the reasons why I didn’t do it. Because I said, ‘I don’t wanna represent everybody smoking weed.’”
Tucker has also refrained from overly criticizing President Trump when he was in office telling Piers Morgan in an interview that he prayed for President Trump,
“I hope he does a good job because I pray for him. I hope he does a great job because we need a good president,” he said. “We need a lot of things to happen in our country, America. So I hope tomorrow he wakes up and just does the right thing.”
CBN reported that Tucker grew up in a Pentecostal Christian home, “A documentary on the YouTube channel Comedy Hype revealed Tucker — once the highest-paid actor in Hollywood — was raised Pentecostal and regularly attended church. When he became famous, the celebrity abandoned his faith but returned to his religious roots when he moved back to Atlanta in the late 1990s, when he became a born-again Christian.”
In an interview in Straight, Tucker stated his faith helps him in comedy. “Being a Christian helps me in comedy. I have to talk about other stuff. Normally, most comics talk about stuff that’s easy — maybe cussing or saying something raunchy. I have to dig deeper to find something that’s still funny and not raunchy. It’s harder. I like the challenge.”
Tucker isn’t the only celebrity who leans on his faith to help him excel in his career.