Mike Epps is still feeling some sorta way about the Richard Pryor biopic that didn’t happen — and 10 years after he got the dream role, he’s blaming Richard’s widow for shutting it down.
Mike did his best to crack jokes about it as revealed the backstory to Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on their “All the Smoke” podcast — claiming things went south with Jennifer Lee Pryor because he refused to render certain services for her.
Call it the ultimate d**k move — or lack thereof — but Mike claims Jennifer wanted a little quid pro quo … and when he refused to sleep with her, she yanked the role from him.
Mike claims he and Jennifer clashed harder at Richard’s funeral in 2005, which he says doubled as a comedic event … albeit not intentionally!!!
He threw the late Paul Mooney and Richard’s other friends in attendance under the bus for not speaking at the funeral — instead leaving Mo’Nique and George Lopez to pay their respects even though they didn’t actually know the comedic legend.
You gotta see Mike paint the picture of how the funeral went down … especially his Diana Ross impression.
But the jokes stopped when he talked about walking up to Jennifer to insist he was the man for the biopic role, because his legacy has outlived Richard’s — and all the kids know it!!!
Lee Daniels was originally on board to direct the RP film in 2014 but jumped ship 2 years later, leaving Mike to portray Pryor in minor capacities as he did in HBO’s short-lived “Winning Time” series … potentially the last time he’ll get to impersonate his idol.
We reached out to Jennifer for her version of events, but no word back yet.