Popular actor quits movie role over forced COVID vaccine mandate

Popular American actor and rapper, Ice Cube has reportedly quitted  a movie he was set to star in after refusing to comply with a requirement that cast members get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Ice Cube was to star in “Oh Hell No” alongside Jack Black. The two teamed up on the project in June.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ice Cube reportedly quit the project after producers for the movie requested that the cast get vaccinated against COVID-19. He was set to be paid $9 million.

The Sony film, directed by Kitao Sakurai, was set to film this winter in Hawaii.

In July, Hollywood’s top studios and guilds came to an agreement on vaccine mandates, saying that producers will be allowed to mandate vaccines for casts and crew who work in close proximity to each other.

“The modifications center on workplace practices for fully vaccinated cast and crew, including changes to outdoor masking requirements and updated mealtime protocols,” read a joint statement from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and Hollywood’s main guilds. “Producers will also have the option to implement mandatory vaccination policies for casts and crew in Zone A on a production-by-production basis.”

READ ALSO: How COVID vaccines could compromise children’s natural immune system

Ice Cube has not made any public remarks about COVID-19 vaccines, but during the pandemic, he encouraged people to wear face masks.

The rapper even released a line of t-shirts with the slogan “Check Yo Self Before You Wreck Yo Self,” which featured photos of Ice Cube wearing a face mask. Ice Cube debuted the t-shirt line to raise money for healthcare workers during the pandemic.

Last year, Ice Cube attracted controversy when he appeared to play a role in helping the Trump administration craft its “Platinum Plan” for the black community, which involved supporting jobs and businesses in the black community, among other things.

Later, the rapper said that he had in fact talked to the Trump administration, but said Democrats had also contacted him.

“Now, I didn’t talk to Trump. I’ve never met him in my life. So I talked to his people and he made the adjustments in his plan. That’s just the truth. I can come up with some bullshit and lie about what happened. That’s the truth. That’s what happened. And the Democrats still had the opportunity to do the same thing. They have the opportunity to do this,” Ice Cube told Rolling Stone last year.

“And look, I’m not telling nobody who to vote for. I’m not endorsing anybody. I think that’s a decision that people have to make on their own. But this is what happened. And I’m going to go talk to every president until we get this done,” he added.

Some celebrities have criticized their fellow celebrities for refusing to get vaccinated, including “Breaking Bad” star Giancarlo Esposito.

“If you don’t want to vaccinate, go to a small island and sequester yourself,” Esposito said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “[Otherwise] you’re saying ‘F*** you’ to all you other human beings. We all have to do it if we want to live. I don’t understand how people don’t vaccinate.”