Katt Williams has always been a straight shooter and has nothing to gain by lying. As he said during his interview, “The truth of the matter is the Money Mike in the original script got raped in the bathroom and that’s what Ricky Smiley was okay with.” Williams said that he knew he was taking a big risk by saying something to the filmmakers since this was his first feature film, but he approached those in charge of making the big decisions and implored them to course correct. As he said:
“Respectfully, humbly, guys. If we talking about anything else — I have no credibility and I have no pull — but we’re talking about comedy, right? Where I have all the credibility and all the pull. The problem with ‘Friday After Next’ is we’re trying to make a classic comedy and this comedy involves a rape and rape is never funny, no matter who it happens to or what the circumstances are. If you would allow me, to allow us to do this movie without a Black man getting raped in it, I promise you that it will be twice as funny as it would be with him getting raped.”
So not only is Katt Williams the best and baddest comedian to ever pull off a silk press, but he’s also someone willing to call out rape culture in the face of potential career consequences. The “Friday” trilogy is now considered classic, with “Friday After Next” becoming an annual holiday watch for many. Katt Williams’ performance as Money Mike is a big part of that, and knowing he made it better by getting an unnecessarily harmful scene removed from the script makes it even sweeter. Here’s hoping we finally get “Last Friday” after all these years.