Stoner comedies made a big comeback in the 90s, with films like Half Baked and Dazed and Confused, but it was Friday that seemed to stick out as one of the funniest of the new batch.

After becoming a huge hit with audiences in 1995, it was almost inevitable that a sequel - or in this case, a trilogy - was the next step, but funnyman Chris Tucker, who played the hilariously garrulous Smokey, never came back for another toke in the follow-ups.

The rumor for years was that Tucker left the franchise for "religious reasons," though others speculated "money reasons."

Some new information came to light in recent days thanks to a comment made by Ice Cube: He claims to have offered Tucker $12 million to reprise the role.

 It was then that Tucker decided to clear the air. In an interview with All Urban Central, he said,

Back then, I gotta tell you, one of the reasons why I didn't do the second one was because of the weed. Because I said, man, that movie became a phenomenon. I don't want everybody smoking weed - and I never really told people this because I kind of forgot about it, but it was one of the reasons why I didn't do it. Because I said, 'I don't wanna represent everybody smoking weed."

Tucker continued,

And that's one of the reasons why I said 'nah.' I didn't wanna keep doing that character. It probably was good for me because it kept me moving to the next phase and next movies.

In terms of coming back if the fourth installment of Friday ever came around, Tucker confirmed that he would consider the idea,

I always said - because I know my fans love the movies so much [and] they always bring it up - I said, well, if they come to me with a great script and a great idea, I'd definitely consider it. But it's been a long ago and that character became such a great character. I don't wanna mess it up.

And who could blame him? Smokey was the best part of Friday, and it put Chris Tucker on the map. It could be a real gamble to mess with a comedic performance that pitch perfect.

Tags: Chris Tucker ice cube