Chris Tucker, the American solo comedian known for starring in the Rush Hour franchise, was once broke due to the IRS. After a long battle with the organization, Tucker finally amassed enough wealth to have a positive net worth.
In an interview, the actor revealed that he had to reject a movie which offered him loads of money. The reason for this rejection was cited to his religious views since Chris Tucker did not want to be seen smoking weed on television or theater screens once again.
Chris Tucker Rejected Millions For Spreading A Good Message
At the peak of his popularity, Tucker lost it all when he had to compensate the IRS for several incorrectly processed paperwork while ignoring some hefty debts. The actor found himself in a repayment of millions to the IRS which essentially plummeted his net worth in the negatives.
The breakthrough role of Chris Tucker was that of a stoner named Smokey alongside Ice Cube in the 1995 movie Friday. With sequels in the work, the Rush Hour actor was once again offered the role of Smokey during his time of crisis. Due to his personal religious views, however, Chris Tucker denied the offer since he did not want to be seen cursing or smoking weed on-screen.
Talking about why Tucker did not do the second installment of the Friday franchise, the actor had to cite the intense amount of weed smoking as the reason.
“Back then, I gotta tell you, one of the reasons why I didn’t do the second one was because of the weed. 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.’”.
This decision was later discussed by his Friday co-star Ice Cube as he supported Chris Tucker in his quest for spreading the good word.
Ice Cube Supported Chris Tucker Through His Phase
As stated earlier, Tucker had a tough time with the IRS. When the going got tough, Ice Cube stated that he offered Chris Tucker $10-12 million to do a sequel to Friday. Due to his religious views, The Fifth Element actor rejected the offer.
Years later, Ice Cube talked about the rejection and Tucker’s willpower in spreading a good message.
“We were ready to pay Chris Tucker $10-12m to do Next Friday but he (Tucker) turned us down for religious reasons. He didn’t want to cuss or smoke weed on camera anymore,”
The actor eventually earned his way to a positive net worth as Tucker busies himself with shooting Rush Hour 4 with Jackie Chan. There have been no details revealed regarding the project as fans can only hope to see the magic that the original movies possessed back in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Source: The Things
