Actor Ice Cube recently spoke during an of the Drinks Champs podcast where he blamed Warner Bros. for the halt in adding to the cult classic Friday franchise, telling host N.O.R.E., “They don’t believe in the culture, man.”

While Cube shared his intention to name a fourth film, Last Friday, it should be noted that there have been a number of original Friday actors who have passed away.

In 2019, John Witherspoon, who he played Craig’s dad, “Sweet” Willie Jones, died of heart disease. Tommy “Tiny” Lister, who starred as “Deebo,” died of the same disease in May 2021. Anthony Johnson, who played Ezal, died in 2021. In May 2015, Reynaldo Ray died from complications resulting from his stroke the previous year. In 2008, Bernie Mac passed away due to complications from pneumonia at age 50. Sanford and Son alum LaWanda Page away at the age of 81 as a result of complications of diabetes in 2002. And Yvette Wilson (Rita), whose character told Smokey that she looked like Janet Jackson, passed away in 2012 after a lengthy battle with cervical cancer while also struggling with severe kidney issues.

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As sequels to Friday have come and gone, Chris Tucker has not returned to any of them. However, rumors of Tucker’s return weresparked back in April when Wild N’Out’s DC Young Fly made a bold claim about the actor during an interview. During a chat on the 935kday YouTube channel, Cube laughed it off and said,

“He told DC Young Fly something. But you know Chris is slippery. Chris is slippery.”

Ice Cube Says He Does Not Know What the Deal Is

According to Cube:

While responding to fans on Twitter, Cube clarified that Tucker was offered a hefty fee to do the sequel, Next Friday. Last December, the Boyz N the Hood actor tweeted:

“He claims Tucker tells “everybody” he’s going to appear in the last “Friday” film “except me. That was a long time ago. I don’t know what the reasons are now. But me and Chris is cool. He hit me up all the time like, ‘Cube what you doing?’ But doing that movie, I don’t know what the deal is.”

“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.”