Rapper, actor and producer Ice Cube was the feature guest on a recent episode (September 8) of the In Depth With Graham Bensinger show, where the entertainment mogul, along with BIG3 co-founder & business partner Jeff Kwatinetz discuss Cube’s shaky tenure with Warner Bros. and the studio’s history of releasing films starring black actors.
“That company [Warner Bros.] claims to understand the business that I’m in, but they continue to ignore, dismiss, or actually sell away the projects that I’m a part of,” Cube tells host Graham Bensinger.
Elsewhere in the interview, Cube gives props to other film studios he’s collaborated with like Universal by saying, “We’ve had a great time at places like Universal. Warner Brothers is terrible for me, as a actor, producer, director.”
According to Cube, a couple of films that Warner Bros. passed on were blockbusters like Ride Along with Kevin Hart –because studio Chairman Toby Emmerich didn’t believe two black leads could sell overseas — and 2015’s Straight Outta Compton because, as Cube was told, ‘no one would be interested in a “rap movie”‘.
Addressing points in Ice Cube’s Contract With Black America, Jeff Kwatinetz goes even further by describing how Warner Bros. is the worst offender in stereotyping in their films. “People like Universal and Disney have done a lot to really address the inequalities in that business, with what Bob Iger did in giving us all the land of a Wakanda. They didn’t exploit the culture, they tapped into it and empowered people.”
Watch Ice Cube on In Depth With Graham Bensinger below: