Ice Cube Exits ‘Oh Hell No’ Comedy After Turning Down Covid-19 Vaccine

Ice Cube has exited his co-starring role in the upcoming comedy Oh Hell No after declining the producers’ request to get the Covid-19 vaccination.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, the rapper was cast to star alongside Jack Black in the Sony-produced comedy back in June, when producers made a request to all cast and crew that they be vaccinated ahead of the Hawaii-set shoot this winter. Ice Cube refused, sources told THR, with the rapper-actor walking away from a $9 million payday.

A representative for Ice Cube did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment at press time. Both Sony and Ice Cube’s talent agency declined to comment to The Hollywood Reporter.

While Ice Cube has not commented publicly about the Covid-19 vaccination, he has advocated strongly for masking during the Covid-19 pandemic on social media, even releasing a line of “Check Yo Self Before You Wreck Yo Self” t-shirts — featuring iconic images of the rapper wearing a face mask — to raise funds for frontline healthcare workers. Ice Cube also donated 2,000 face masks to an Oklahoma college this past August, and was frequently photographed wearing face masks during his Big 3 basketball tournament.

Ice Cube — who is currently performing alongside Snoop Dogg, E-40 and Too Short in the rap supergroup Mount Westmore — previously found himself embroiled in controversy in 2020 when he appeared to align with the Trump administration on their “Platinum Plan” one month for the 2020 election.

The rapper later explained in an interview with Rolling Stone, “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.”

He continued, “And look, I’m not telling nobody who to vote for. I’m not endorsing anybody. I think that’s a decision where people got 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.”