Photo Credit: Quebec City Summer Festival July 9, 2016. | Image: Florence Cassisi / AFP
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Ice Cube has walked away from an upcoming film role due to his unwillingness to take the Covid-19 vaccine. As a result, Ice Cube will be forfeiting the $9 million he would have received for the role. He was originally set to be a part of the new Jack Black comedy titled Oh Hell Nah.
Ice Cube, whose real name is O’Shea Jackson, has appeared in over 50 movies according to IMDB, and is worth around $160 million according to Celebritynetworth.com. The former NWA co-founder decided not to receive the vaccination, which was mandated by the Oh Hell Nah producers. Filming was set to begin this December with director Kitao Sakurai, but had been postponed to begin in July 2022 due to an injury sustained by the star of the movie, Jack Black, from a prior project.
In the movie, mayhem erupts between two friends, Sherman and Will, when Sherman falls in love with Will’s mother, much to Will’s disapproval, according to rottentomatoes.com. With Jack Black playing the character Sherman, the makers of the movie now must search for someone to replace Ice Cube as the role of Will.
Since the implementation of the vaccine mandates, vaccination rates in the U.S. have risen by 20%. Many institutions adopted the vaccine requirements, requiring employees to either take the vaccine or lose their positions. The number of cases and the number of deaths caused by Covid-19 have decreased as well. Many people believe that Ice Cube has the right to not get vaccinated and feel that it is a matter of being pro-choice. Others feel that it is necessary to get the vaccine in order to protect others. Some critics on Twitter complained that since he has so many followers, he is harming the general public by having such a far-reaching voice, stating that “With the amount of followers he has, remaining unvaccinated sends a clear message to those who look up to him.” Not everyone agrees with this sentiment. Other critics on Twitter have expressed that they see no problem with Ice Cube not getting vaccinated because it is “his choice and he isn’t speaking out against vaccines by not getting the vaccine.”
Ice Cube has been an advocate for protection against the deadly disease since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to The Entertainment Outlet, Ice Cube donated 2000 masks to Bacone College in Oklahoma last August. He also released a series of “Check Yo Self Before You Wreck Yo Self” branded T-shirts during the start of the pandemic, which featured a photo of Ice Cube with a mask. The proceeds from those sales were donated to frontline health workers who worked during the pandemic.
Ice Cube was also set to be in another film in which he is now no longer a part of. He was set to star in the upcoming boxing movie entitled Flint Strong. Although the reason has not been made public, it has been confirmed that he will not be involved in that film as well.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the Covid-19 vaccination and whether or not people want to participate. Many consider it a polarizing topic and consider anti-vaxxers dangerous. White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters that 77% of eligible Americans had received at least one shot of a vaccine. According to WebMD, in order for herd immunity to kick in, 50- 67% of the population would need to be vaccinated, so hopefully we are on our way to a Covid-19 free society.
