This is probably one of the better “before they were famous” stories you’ll hear this weekend. Idris Elba, who is making the rounds promoting Sonic The Hedgehog 2, looked back on his early life and the jobs he had before he made it big. As it turns out, during his early days living in the U.S., Elba used to sell weed and one of his clients was none other than Dave Chappelle.
During a visit to The Jess Cagle Show, the actor admitted that when his acting career “fell flat on its face very quickly for about four years,” he got into selling weed. That is when Elba name-dropped the comedian as one of his clients:
“I did that for a little bit just to, you know, help pay the way. I DJ’ed quite a bit. I was a doorman. I was a doorman at Carolines comedy club [in New York], which is fascinating now, when I meet the comedians that you kind of remember the English guy. Tall English guy with the funny accent and the little hair. David Chappelle remembers me ’cause he used to buy weed from me. Anyway, moving on. Yeah, I did all kinds of things to be honest, all kinds of things.”
Chappelle actually admitted in the past that he did indeed buy weed quite frequently from Elba before he made it big a few years later playing the role of savvy drug dealer Stringer Bell on HBO’s The Wire. Hey, if anyone asks, he can just say he was doing one long rehearsal for a role he was destined to play.
What are YOUR thoughts on Idris Elba selling weed to Dave Chappelle back in the day?