You have to say this about Tyrese — he’s nothing if not diplomatic.
Amid reports that there are heated tensions among the cast of the upcoming “Fast 8” movie, Tyrese rushed to the defense of his franchise castmate Vin Diesel — after singing the praises of Diesel’s reported foe, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Tyrese posted a picture of Diesel on Instagram on Thursday, gushing love for his castmate and calling him “my brother.”
“Our brotherhood and every moment has inspired me to be a better man and father,” the actor wrote. “So much strength to pull from….. I’m so f–king proud to call you my family and my brother.”
Tyrese also hailed Diesel’s work ethic, which has been called into question in the days since Johnson tore into some of his unnamed castmates as “candy asses.”
“I’ve always said that if ONLY people knew how hard you work to protect this franchise and characters, minds would be blown,” Tyrese added.
On Tuesday, it was Johnson’s turn to have praise heaped upon him by Tyrese, who assured his Instagram followers that he and Johnson “have NEVER had a problem,” in an apparent effort to claim that he was not one of the “candy asses” in question.
“I think Dewayne aka DJ happens to be one of the most humble, down to earth and professional people I’ve ever worked with and more importantly he’s my brother we have NEVER had a problem and will never have a problem,” he wrote at the time. “WE are good over here.”
Johnson opened up an Internet’s worth of speculation on Monday, when he ripped some of his male costars — he didn’t name names — as unprofessional, “candy asses” and “chicken s–t.”
“There’s no other franchise that gets my blood boiling more than this one. An incredible hard working crew. UNIVERSAL has been great partners as well. My female co-stars are always amazing and I love ’em. My male co-stars however are a different story,” Johnson wrote. “Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don’t.”
“The ones that don’t are too chicken s–t to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses. When you watch this movie next April and it seems like I’m not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling – you’re right,” he added. “Bottom line is it’ll play great for the movie and fits this Hobbs character that’s embedded in my DNA extremely well. The producer in me is happy about this part. Final week on FAST 8 and I’ll finish strong.”
While Johnson didn’t point his finger in a specific direction, media reports have targeted Vin Diesel as the cause of his wrath, with TMZ reporting that Johnson and Diesel unsuccessfully tried to patch things up during a meeting on Tuesday night.
Diesel has mostly remained silent on the matter, though he did post a cryptic message on Instagram promising fans, “I will tell you everything.”