GENERAL PRESS 24
Angela Mean rose to fame as part of the cast of 1994’s Friday. In the years since, her small role as Felicia has blown up in cultural importance, as the internet era has made her into a meme and viral sensation. She is now a soul food chef and is busy running a successful restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles, but she has found time to open up about her experience on set and tell some exclusive tea about the cult classic film, including how much she was offered to return for the sequels.
Angela has done several interviews over the years about her time working on Friday. For fans who remember, she played the neighborhood crackhead who famously asked Craig and Smokey to let her borrow some money. The boys hilariously dismissed her, spawning the term “bye Felicia.” During an interview with Comedy Hype, she opened up about finding out her image had gone viral around the time her son got accepted to college.
Mean says the love was a welcomed change for her because, for years, she felt people really mistreated the character and bullied her. In other interviews, Angela has cried about Felicia’s legacy and feels like a lot of her prep work went to waste since many people simply did not like or defend the tragic character. Mean goes on to say that she was pregnant during the time the film finally came out and ended up being excluded from a lot of the press and promotional trail because she was busy being a new mom.
When Next Friday and Friday After Next came out, Angela says that a small part was written for her and AJ Johnson’s characters, but Ice Cube decided to move in a different direction, believing he could build the franchise to a more mainstream following. “It was a business decision. Cube is a capitalist. He wasn’t going to be able to give me $2400 again.” Angela Mean admits that she is not sure how much everyone got paid for the follow-ups, but just felt like business was not ideal for her to return. “It was his project, it was his prerogative.”
Angela is not the first to discuss the pay for Friday. The film famously started off as a passion project for Ice Cube and DJ Pooh, who were eager to show a lighter side of the hood after years of violent films like Menace II Society and Boyz In Da Hood. Warner Bros ended up getting behind the film and funding it, but the budget was really tight. Everyone talked about barely making anything for the movie, but all admit that it helped catapult them to new heights. Chris Tucker famously did not return after seeing his salary skyrocket as part of the Rush Hour series. Faison Love also turned down a small payday to return for the sequels.
For Angela, it seemed like a mix of things. It is clear she did not think much of Ice Cube in the interview and was also not interested in such a small payday. “My services were not required,” she says when discussing why Felicia never returned. “So go on bout your business,” she said, laughing.
