Jamie Foxx Blames ‘All-Star Weekend’ Film’s Delay On “Cancel Culture”
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Jamie Foxx revealed to host Sean O’Connell that he believes one of his movies from 2016 has been shelved due to cancel culture and cultural appropriation. “It’s been tough with the lay of the land when it comes to comedy,” he said in an interview with CinemaBlend. “We’re trying to break open the sensitive corners where people go back to laughing again.”
In a 2018 interview with Joe Rogan, the actor and comedian gave a gist of the film and the roles that were played. “We all play different characters,” he expressed. “I play a white racist cop. Robert Downey Jr. plays a Mexican. Gerard Butler plays a Russian who loves gymnastics …” He went on to add in the same interview that he called Downey Jr., to play the role, and although interested, he was a bit hesitant.
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“I called Robert, I said, ‘I need you to play a Mexican.’ He said, ‘Dude, here, sure. F**k it. Why not? Sure.’ But then he texted back and said, ‘I’m nervous to play the Mexican.” Foxx then responded to his hesitation with, “I said, ‘Sh*t, you played the black dude, and you killed that sh*t.’ We got to be able to do characters.” Foxx and Rogan then went on to discuss Downey’s backlash for his role in 2008’s Tropic Thunder as a blackface character.
The unreleased All-Star Weekend starring Foxx and Jeremy Piven is about two NBA-obsessed friends in Indiana. Piven’s character is Steph Curry’s biggest fan, while Foxx “stans” for LeBron James. The friends win tickets to the NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles. On their way out west, they run into a cast of wacky characters and find themselves in a dangerous situation with their hoop idols. Although the film seems hilarious, it never hit theaters.
All-Star Weekend was originally slated to be released amid the 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend but was pushed to 2019 due to post-production delays before it was ultimately shelved.
Check out Jamie Foxx’s interview with Cinema Blend linked above and his 2018 sentiments about the All-Star Weekend below.
