Mike Epps Claims Ice Cube Wants to Turn ‘Friday’ Into Touring Stage Play

*Mike Epps says Ice Cube wants to turn the “Friday” movies into a touring stage play. 

“The last person I texted was Ice Cube. He wants to do the movie Friday; he wants to go out on tour, like as a play,” Epps said in a new episode of PEOPLE in 10.

“He’s trying to get Chris Tucker to do church stuff in it, and Katt Williams,” Epps added. “[It’s] a little crazy, but if we can find these two dudes and get them in it, it’ll be really good.”

Epps appeared in the second and third installments of the movie franchise, “Next Friday” (2000) and “Friday After Next” (2002).

The original film starred Cube and Chris Tucker as two friends who smoke up a local dealer’s marijuana on a Friday and “must come up with $200 they owe” the “local bully, or there won’t be a Saturday,” per IMDB. 

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

Ice Cube revealed in a 2021 post on X (formerly Twitter) that “religious reasons” are why Tucker turned down $12 million to reprise his role in the sequel.

“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,” Ice Cube tweeted when someone asked whether Tucker “quit over money” reasons.

Tucker addressed the issue in an interview two years ago and explained why he has no interest in reprising the role of Smokey.

“It probably was good for me because it kept me moving to the next phase and next movies,” Tucker said in an interview with All Urban Central. “Back then, I gotta tell you, one of the reasons why I didn’t do the second one was because of the weed,” he added. 

“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.’ ”

“And that’s one of the reasons why I said ‘Nah,’” the “Rush Hour” star continued. “I didn’t wanna keep doing that character. It probably was good for me because it kept me moving to the next phase and next movies.”

Tucker said another reason for not appearing in another “Friday” movie is because “I never thought about doing sequels. I always wanted to do a good job, and keep moving to the next movie.”

The comedian admitted, however, that he would “definitely consider” returning for a possible fourth installment. 

“I always said, because I know my fans love the movies so much [and] they always bring it up, I said, well, if they come to me with a great script and a great idea, I’d definitely consider it. But it’s been so long ago and that character became such a great character. I don’t wanna mess it up.”

READ MORE: Chris Tucker Turned Down $12M for ‘Friday’ Sequel Due to ‘Religious Reasons’

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