Who remembers that Bernie Mac interview in Ebony magazine where Bernie talked about how he and Steve Harvey were no longer friends because after Bernie got that part in Ocean’s 11, Steve and his publicist went behind his back and contacted the producers and tried to tell them that Steve would be a much better fit for the part? At the time, Bernie said of all the Hollywood bullsh*t he’d been through that was the one thing that hurt him the most. And now who’s the first one on TV talking about how much they loved and will miss Bernie? Steve “I ain’t got no shame” Harvey. source
Here is an excerpt from the Ebony Magazine article. But perhaps his biggest break came when he was offered the part as a blackjack-dealing ex-con in the movie Ocean’s Eleven. With a cast that included Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Julia Roberts, Mac, by far the novice of the group, became a household name to a whole new set of people. The movie was a huge success, but caused a riff in his relationship with his Kings of Comedy co-star Steve Harvey. As the story goes, someone representing Harvey called Ocean’s Eleven director Steven Soderbergh to push for Harvey to get the part over Mac. “The Hollywood game that we are in, it’s a cold game,” he says of the person who tried to convince Soderbergh that Harvey was more popular and a better actor. “And the sad thing about it is all of us are doing well, so I don’t really see the problem. It didn’t bother me because I see the big picture. When they told me about it, what could I do? I’m not going to sling mud. I’m not a rapper. I tell jokes. I try to make people laugh. I’m not going to sling mud. Steve and anybody else can say whatever they want to say. Ain’t nobody got no control over me. I have the control.” source
