Vin Diesel has been the face of the multi-billion-dollar Fast and Furious franchise for years. The actor has starred in 9 films that the franchise came out with, the most recent being Fast and Furious 9. Dwayne Johnson has also been a part of the series but soon exited the franchise with his last outing in the spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw in 2019 in which he starred alongside Jason Statham.
Last month, Diesel had taken to social media to publicly appeal to Dwayne to return to the franchise. In a recent interaction, Dwayne expressed his surprise on Vin’s post and accused him of manipulation for luring him back to the franchise by using late Paul Walker’s name. Dwayne said, “I was very surprised by Vin’s recent post. This past June, when Vin and I actually connected not over social media, I told him directly - and privately - that I would not be returning to the franchise.”
Talking about Vin’s manipulation, Dwayne said, “Vin's recent public post was an example of his manipulation. I didn't like that he brought up his children in the post, as well as Paul Walker's death. Leave them out of it. We had spoken months ago about this and came to a clear understanding.”
Dwayne also said that he had hoped to leave the franchise dignity and grace but the public comments marred that. He said, “My goal all along was to end my amazing journey with this incredible Fast & Furious franchise with gratitude and grace. It's unfortunate that this public dialogue has muddied the waters.”
(Source: CNN)
