http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/623/623679p1.html?fromint=1
I suppose everyone has their theories about what happened to Dave Chapelle in the weeks leading up to the delay of the third season of Chappelle's Show and his now infamous trip to Africa.
At a recent press day for The Honeymooners, comedian Mike Epps took it a step further, committing his opinion to record in front of a room full of journalists in which IGN FilmForce was present.
The subject came up when Epps mentioned his worries about playing Richard Pryor in a potential upcoming project directed by Walter Hill. Someone asked whether his stress compared to Chappelle's and Epps laughed, snapping into a response. "You know, coming from where I come from, I'm already crazy. S**t. You ain't got to worry about me going. I'm crazy, straight up. I done seen the psychiatrist, I been on the little pills or whatever they got. You know what I'm saying? I'm for real. He just goin' through some new s**t. This is him going through his. I thank God I been through mine at an early age. Going through it and being on drugs. I went crazy after Next Friday because certain things overwhelm us, man. That's overwhelming…
"I don't think he came from the background I came from. I don't think that. But my background. Everything around me is failure. You know what I mean? Trash in the alley. I got eight brothers and we all got damn near different daddies. I come from a real welfare family, you know mother struggling. My grandmother was the same way… So that alone, for you to come out in Hollywood and get in a movie will overwhelm the s**t out of you, if you from that. Now, you give me 50 million dollars, I ain't gonna go crazy. I'm gonna go to the mall and go and get some new cars, I'm about to go and put my momma in a new house, I'm about to give some of these kids in the community some money. That's all he should have did… Just give some of that money to the kids, and that will bring you right back… You'll realize that that's what that's for, is to share it, and you won't go crazy.
"The thing about it is, the material he was doing wasn't him. He don't come from no crackheads on the streets and s**t. You can't talk about black people like that and you don't even represent that. You don't come into the community and kick it with black kids. You got white writers on your show. You got white boys writing, talking about black people on the show, you know what I'm saying? You got Oprah lashing out at him. Not only that, you got people comparing him to Richard Pryor, so once you got that on you right there, and you ain't even came from what Richard Pryor came from, it look like you done tricked a bunch of motherf******, that's what it look like, and now you can't follow yourself, because you got that material from some other people. Charlie Murphy and them did all that. I remember the show blowing up from, 'I'm rich, bitch' and James Brown and Rick James and all that.
"What I really think, true heart to heart, is that you only as good as your last s**t. That go for me, Cedric [the Entertainer], everybody in this business. You only as good as your last s**t. If you do good the last time I see you, I'm still good with you, but you gotta follow everything you do…"
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I suppose everyone has their theories about what happened to Dave Chapelle in the weeks leading up to the delay of the third season of Chappelle's Show and his now infamous trip to Africa.
At a recent press day for The Honeymooners, comedian Mike Epps took it a step further, committing his opinion to record in front of a room full of journalists in which IGN FilmForce was present.
The subject came up when Epps mentioned his worries about playing Richard Pryor in a potential upcoming project directed by Walter Hill. Someone asked whether his stress compared to Chappelle's and Epps laughed, snapping into a response. "You know, coming from where I come from, I'm already crazy. S**t. You ain't got to worry about me going. I'm crazy, straight up. I done seen the psychiatrist, I been on the little pills or whatever they got. You know what I'm saying? I'm for real. He just goin' through some new s**t. This is him going through his. I thank God I been through mine at an early age. Going through it and being on drugs. I went crazy after Next Friday because certain things overwhelm us, man. That's overwhelming…
"I don't think he came from the background I came from. I don't think that. But my background. Everything around me is failure. You know what I mean? Trash in the alley. I got eight brothers and we all got damn near different daddies. I come from a real welfare family, you know mother struggling. My grandmother was the same way… So that alone, for you to come out in Hollywood and get in a movie will overwhelm the s**t out of you, if you from that. Now, you give me 50 million dollars, I ain't gonna go crazy. I'm gonna go to the mall and go and get some new cars, I'm about to go and put my momma in a new house, I'm about to give some of these kids in the community some money. That's all he should have did… Just give some of that money to the kids, and that will bring you right back… You'll realize that that's what that's for, is to share it, and you won't go crazy.
"The thing about it is, the material he was doing wasn't him. He don't come from no crackheads on the streets and s**t. You can't talk about black people like that and you don't even represent that. You don't come into the community and kick it with black kids. You got white writers on your show. You got white boys writing, talking about black people on the show, you know what I'm saying? You got Oprah lashing out at him. Not only that, you got people comparing him to Richard Pryor, so once you got that on you right there, and you ain't even came from what Richard Pryor came from, it look like you done tricked a bunch of motherf******, that's what it look like, and now you can't follow yourself, because you got that material from some other people. Charlie Murphy and them did all that. I remember the show blowing up from, 'I'm rich, bitch' and James Brown and Rick James and all that.
"What I really think, true heart to heart, is that you only as good as your last s**t. That go for me, Cedric [the Entertainer], everybody in this business. You only as good as your last s**t. If you do good the last time I see you, I'm still good with you, but you gotta follow everything you do…"
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