The feud between Tyrese Gibson and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson continues.
When Johnson, who plays Luke Hobbs in the action-packed Fast & Furious film series,
announced that he would be starring in his own spin-off movie Hobbs & Shaw, Gibson, known
for playing the fast-talking former convict Roman Pearce, began viewing his franchise
co-star as something of an enemy.
Tension between the two has been high for years now, but in the days following the August
2nd launch of Hobbs & Shaw, things have reached a boiling-over point.
"Hey Mia!
You better hide your baby oil!
I'm just playing."
"You better hide that big-ass forehead."
"I was just joking…"
Gibson recently took to Instagram to slam Johnson for his decision to film Hobbs & Shaw
before the ninth Fast & Furious movie, poke fun at Hobbs & Shaw's $180 million worldwide
opening weekend, and hint that Johnson and his co-star Jason Statham will experience
continued backlash from others.
Gibson also seemed to imply that the only reason why Johnson is a favorite in Hollywood
is because he has been a part of, quote, "at least 15" franchises and is continually asked
to star in sequels.
Gibson wrote in a now-deleted post, in part,
"I have to show my respects for one thing…He tried…Folks called me a hater…Attacked
me for speaking out...Breaking up the family clearly doesn't have the value that one would
assume it does.
You know what maybe just maybe…The Rock and the crew will come dance with us again
for #Fast10 we can all hug it out and get back to giving the true fans who have supported
this franchise for 20 years WHAT they want…No hating I'm just pointing out the facts.
#FastFamily has more value as the #FastFamily it's ok…there won't be any tears on his
pillow tonight.
180 million dollar global opening on Hobbs and Shaw is NOT a win…When you do get attacked
well…That's that…Again my respects cause he tried his best."
This is just the latest shot fired in the Gibson-versus-Johnson battle.
Gibson has been publically unhappy with Johnson since news of the Hobbs & Shaw spin-off hit
in 2017.
In Gibson's defense, Hobbs & Shaw did complicate the production of Fast & Furious 9.
Longtime screenwriter Chris Morgan left the project to work on Hobbs & Shaw, and despite
Gibson's pleas to Johnson to prioritize Fast & Furious 9 over the spin-off flick, the movie
was pushed back.
Fast & Furious 9 was ultimately delayed nearly a year, moving from its planned April 19,
2019 release date to April 10, 2020.
The premiere date change was seemingly what sent Gibson over the edge.
In another post on his Instagram page, uploaded in October 2017, Gibson wrote a scathing message
openly blaming Johnson for delaying Fast & Furious 9.
"Congratulations to The Rock and your brother-in-law aka 7 bucks producing partner [Hiram Garcia]
for making the Fast and the Furious franchise about YOU.
And like you, DJ, even if they call, I will not be deleting this post.
Gn, folks.
See you in 2020 April.
Fast family, right?
Nah.
It's about Team Dwayne."
And the actor previously called Johnson out over Hobbs & Shaw on Instagram, writing,
"If you move forward with that Hobbs movie, you will have purposely ignored the heart-to-heart
moment we had in my sprinter.
I don't wanna hear from you until you remember what we talked about.
I'm on your timeline cause you're not responding to my text messages.
Fast family is just that, a family.
We don't fly solo."
And in November 2017, Gibson threatened to quit the Fast & Furious franchise if Johnson
got to be in both Hobbs & Shaw and Fast 9.
He wrote on Instagram,
"I'm sorry to announce that if [Dwayne] is in Fast9 there will no more Roman [Pearce]."
He went on to call Johnson a clown and worse, ultimately accusing him of using steroids
to obtain his ultra-ripped physique and implying that Johnson's professional decisions have,
quote, "messed" with his family.
Gibson explained in a separate post that he was primarily mad at Johnson for agreeing
to the spin-off film without considering how it might affect Gibson's own life, finances,
and personal struggles, which at the time included paying for unidentified legal fees
and apparently fighting for custody of his daughter.
Gibson wrote,
"All I asked you to do 'privately' was NOT accept a role that would deeply effect us
all.
You are simply NOT the people's champ…you are a selfish champ...I'm almost broke swimming
in legal fees…Make sure you kiss your 2 daughters when you get home I wish I could
but I can't afford to fight for my baby anymore so they're likely going to take her away."
Just a few days after sharing those posts to Instagram, Gibson again took to his social
media platform of choice to state that he had smoothed things over with one of Johnson's
"associates," and was excited to return for Fast & Furious 9 since veteran franchise director
Justin Lin was confirmed to be at the helm.
He also said it would be his last post about Johnson, which, well, didn't exactly pan out.
This fiasco could be the final battle in the war between Gibson and Johnson, as Johnson
won't be involved with Fast & Furious 9.
Whether or not Gibson can let bygones be bygones remains to be seen, but it looks like the
era of Gibson and Johnson sharing the screen together in the Fast franchise might be coming
to a screeching halt.
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