The actor-comedian took aim at fellow comics Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey and Rickey Smiley during an appearance on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast published Wednesday.
Williams told host Shannon Sharpe that he wanted to address the mistruths said about him by “low-brow comedians” on Sharpe’s show, describing Cedric, Harvey and Smiley as a “gang.”
“For 30 years, they’re a group. These aren’t three random guys,” Williams said. “All of these dudes are co-entwined and they share secrets, and this is the age of truth.”
Here’s what Williams had to say.
Katt Williams accuses Cedric the Entertainer of stealing his ‘best joke’ from the ’90s
Williams accused Cedric the Entertainer of stealing a joke from his comedy set in the late ’90s, which he also performed on the BET program “ComicView.”
“This is not just a random joke. This is my very best joke and it’s my last joke, and it’s my closing joke,” Williams said. “1998, I’m doing this joke. It’s on ‘ComicView.’ Cedric comes to The Comedy Store. He watches me in the audience. He comes backstage. He tells me what a great job I did and how much he loves the joke. Two years later, he’s doing that as his last joke on ‘The (Original) Kings Of Comedy,’ and he’s doing it verbatim.”
While Williams initially gave Cedric a “pass” for his use of the joke, he changed his tune after Cedric later denied taking from Williams’ material. “He thought that I was just a no-name comedian and that he could take this joke and nobody would know,” he said.
Cedric the Entertainer responded to Williams in the comments section of an Instagram post that featured a clip from the “Club Shay Shay” podcast, calling Williams’ allegation “revisionist history.”
“Regardless of whatever Katt’s opinion, my career can’t be reduced to one joke Katt Williams claims as his,” Cedric wrote Wednesday. “I been (in) over 40 movies, my specials and brand speak volumes for I am. The (people) I have put on including ‘Katt in the Hat’. At the Gibson Amphitheater.”
Katt Williams denies Rickey Smiley had his ‘Friday After Next’ role
Williams and Smiley co-starred in the 2002 dramedy “Friday After Next,” the third film in the “Friday” franchise starring Ice Cube and John Witherspoon.
Williams portrayed the character Money Mike, while Smiley played the role of Santa Claus. Smiley previously told Sharpe he originally had the role of Money Mike.
“This man told you he had Katt Williams’ role. He was going to be Money Mike, and Katt Williams was going to be the Santa Claus,” Williams said. “We auditioned in Los Angeles. I was audition No. 201. Two-hundred Black comedians auditioned for the role of Money Mike with me. You’re saying all 201 of us was auditioning, and you had already had the role and had already shot the role in four days?”
