Arsenio Hall (left) is feeling the pressure for Coming 2 America to be successful after reading social media comments.
Social media followers warned the Arsenio and his co-stars not to mess up the sequel to the much-loved original classic.
The 64-year-old actor reprises his role as Semmi alongside Eddie Murphy‘s Prince Akeem in the long-awaited comedy sequel to 1988 film Coming to America. He admits that after reading comments from fans on Twitter he is now aware of just how meaningful the original movie was to people.
“I’m a big social media nut,” Arsenio explained. “Eddie’s not so much into social media. One day we’re sitting at his house, and I’m looking at something. I’m reading different stuff. I guess I said something like, ‘Wow’. He said, ‘What?’ It was somebody tweeting saying, ‘Don’t y’all f**k it up.’ I was like, ‘I never thought about it that way.'”
Arsenio continued: “Here’s what I got out of the entire tweet, ‘That’s our movie. My daddy used to make us watch that once a year like The Wizard of Oz at the house. Don’t y’all f**k it up.'”
Arsenio told Complex magazine the fan’s comment “shook him up” even though his response was met with disapproval by Eddie (pictured with Shari Headley).
“I was like, ‘Eddie…’ He said, ‘First of all, put that f***ing phone down, man. Somebody got to you like that? Put your f***ing phone down.’
“But I had never thought about the fact that it means a lot to people, and they put that in our arms and say, ‘Care for it and do it right, y’all.’
“That shook me up, but I’ll tell you what it did. It made me go read the script three more times in a row and say, ‘Let me get ready for this s**t.'”
Arsenio insists the story is a “perfect” continuation from the 1988 movie.
The sequel, which is set after the events of the first film, sees Akeem set to become king of Zamunda when he discovers he has a son in America named Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler).
Akeem and Semmi return to America to find Akeem’s son.
Coming 2 America will stream on Amazon Prime Video starting on March 5, 2021.
