Tyrese Gibson admits he still harbors a deep resentment for fellow actor Ving Rhames, whose stellar performance as his mother’s boyfriend in the classic film Baby Boy triggers him to this day.
The singer and actor explained to the host of the “Million Dollaz Worth of Game” podcast that the John Singleton-directed movie was loosely based on his upbringing. Therefore, reliving some of his worst childhood memories while on the set of the 2001 film traumatized Tyrese so deeply that he detests the sight of Rhames 23 years later.
“I was not acting in Baby Boy. That n—- Ving Rhames definitely triggered the s— out of me. I don’t like the n—- to this day,” said Tyrese, who played Jody Summer in the seminal movie.
“I run into that n—- to this day. I don’t give a f— where we at, what clothes we got on, what we doing, what event— it could be the Golden Globes— I see that n—- across the room I be like, ‘Man, f— that n—- back there.’”
Tyrese can’t separate Ving Rhames from his Baby Boy character
The 45-year-old “How You Gonna Act Like That” crooner continued on this steam of consciousness, saying, “F— that n— That triggered me. You lucky that one of the dudes your mama dated, you was cool with. I wasn’t with none of them. They came up in my crib, I was like ‘man, what the f—.’”
Later in the interview, Tyrese claimed that the late, legendary Singletary told him that he reminded him most of the iconic Tupac Shakur.
“John Singleton was like, ‘You the only n—- that remind me of Pac,’” Tyrese recalled. “’Everybody out here want to be Pac. They getting tattoos trying to become Pac. They out here trying to rap and sound like Pac. They trying to be super thug like Pac, they getting Pac tattoos, they doing whatever.’”