Tyrese Gibson Gives Universal Studios An Ultimatum: 'It's Either Me Or The Rock'

In the Fast and Furious franchise, Roman Pearce, played by Tyrese Gibson, is the funny guy in the group who has no trouble biting off more trouble than he can chew. True to his character's nature, he's recently decided to pick a quarrel with none other than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, a guy who not only used to be a professional wrestler but is also the human equivalent of a mountain…that is if a mountain could bench press a Fiat 500 and squat a Mini.

It wasn't long ago that Gibson blamed Johnson for production delays on the set of Furious 9, which was initially slated for release in 2019 but has been pushed back until April 2020. Both Gibson and co-star Vin Diesel have had issues with Johnson. Gibson previously accused Johnson of stealing the spotlight from the original Fast and Furious crew in order to self-promote, and with a Furious series spinoff staring Johnson's Hobbs character in the works, the splinter in the group dynamic appears to be poised to break the franchise entirely. In a long-winded Instagram post, Gibson is now giving both Johnson and Universal Studios an ultimatum, claiming he will not be in Fast 9 if Johnson is.

He said, "…I'm sorry to announce that if Dewayne is in Fast 9 there will no more Roman Peirce - You mess with family and my daughters survival I mess with yours." Gibson then went on to call The Rock a slew of names and call into question whether or not his co-star attained his large proportions using steroids. Entertainment Weekly claims that prior to the inflammatory post, Gibson claimed that he wasn't mad at Johnson but that The Rock had pitched him an idea that he said yes to without thinking about the current custody battle Gibson is undergoing with his ex-wife. Johnson defended his idea to spin off a series based on the smash hit franchise in order to "bring new opportunities to young actors."