Wesley Snipes Denies Rumor That He Was Violent on the Set of 'Blade: Trinity'
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In a recent interview with The Guardian, Wesley Snipes issued a denial regarding the rumor that he almost choked the director of Blade: Trinity (David S. Goyer) while the two were on the set for that film.
For those that feel like that's a batch of words in need of more context (I agree) a number of rumors have come out about Snipes' behavior on said set. In 2014, during a discussion with fellow comic Pete Holmes, Patton Oswalt (who played Hedges in the film) stated that Snipes acted like a weirdo during the filming, with specific anecdotes saying that he'd only respond to the name "Blade," and that most of his communicating was done with Post-it notes, among other things.
Oswalt, who was revealing these alleged antics in a joking fashion (I mean, he is a comedian), stated that Blade: Trinity actually making it to theaters was a bigger accomplishment than Citizen Kane because Snipes was "crazy in a hilarious way" and acted ridiculous when it was being put together. Cinema Blend writes that, when Oswalt was originally interviewed, he stated Snipes had "tried to strangle" the director. Note that it's hard to know if that was actually meant literally, that it's a fairly broad statement that may just be summarizing the friction between the two, and that Oswalt is a humorous storyteller by trade. Cinema Blend does add that Oswalt said Goyer hired some bikers at one point to pose as security to keep Snipes away. Furthermore, Uproxx writes that, when those comments were made, no one from Snipes' camp refuted them, and that it was seen as being a pretty funny batch of stories.
Anyway fast forward to now and Snipes has refuted, specifically, the rumor that he tried to strangle Goyer. Snipes told that outlet that, if this had actually happened, it would've been a much bigger story and it would've led to a prison sentence. As he put it:
Let me tell you one thing. If I had tried to strangle David Goyer, you probably wouldn’t be talking to me now. A black guy with muscles strangling the director of a movie is going to jail, I guarantee you.
In the same sit-down in which he said the story was untrue, Snipes jokingly referenced Oswalt as "a reliable authority on me." When The Guardian finished out Oswalt's quote by bringing up the Post-it notes story, Snipes said the following:
“Once again, Mr. Oswalt is the authority. Hohoho! Why do people believe this guy’s version of this story? Answer me that.
"(...) This is part of the challenges that we as African Americans face here in America – these microaggressions. The presumption that one white guy can make a statement and that statement stands as true! Why would people believe his version is true? Because they are predisposed to believing the black guy is always the problem. And all it takes is one person, Mr Oswalt, who I really don’t know. I can barely remember him on the set, but it’s fascinating that his statement alone was enough to make people go: ‘Yeah, you know Snipes has got a problem.’”
Snipes went on to say he was an executive producer for the film, which granted him “au-thor-i-ty to say, to dictate, to decide.”
Almost certainly getting lost in this is that Snipes was on to promote his role in the upcoming sequel to Coming to America. That follow-up to the 1988 original will be called Coming 2 America, and will come out on Amazon Prime on December 18.
Also, if you have any interest, that entire Guardian piece (which touches on several other subjects) can be read here.
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