Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a Hollywood superstar, and is regularly named as one of the most billable stars right now. Few would want to get on the wrong side of this man-mountain – but apparently his Fast & Furious co-star, Vin Diesel, did just that. But what was their row about and how did it affect the Fast & Furious set?
Back in 2016, devoted fans of Johnson will remember when he posted one of the most shocking social media posts of the year.
It was a true moment, when Johnson posted his fury at an unknown cast member, shattering The Rock’s ‘nice-guy’ image.
He posted: “Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don’t.
“The ones that don’t are too chicken s**t to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses.
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“When you watch this movie next April and it seems like I’m not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling—you’re right.”
He then hashtagged the post as “zero tolerance for candy asses,” hence the feud becoming known as the Candy Ass feud.
Despite The Rock taking one person to town, fans leapt to his defence and loved him for his frank honesty, especially when he is angry at those who are not acting lie “true professionals.”
Fans were desperate to find out who the subject of the feud was, and various names were in the fold.
Given it came as The Rock was filming The Fate of the Furious, it meant people like Jason Statham, Scott Eastwood and Tyrese Gibson were possibles, as well as Diesel.
Soon after, TMZ reported claims a secret meeting had taken place between Johnson and the unnamed person, with their crew sources suggesting it had been Diesel who was being called the “candy ass.”
A few days later, The Rock posted again, this time with happier news from the set.
He wrote: “Family is gonna have differences of opinion and fundamental core beliefs.
“To me, conflict can be a good thing, when it’s followed by great resolution.
“I was raised on healthy conflict and welcome it. And like any family, we get better from it.”
All seemed to be well, until soon after, Diesel posted a video with him talking about how his daughter learned the word “happy” while he was away filming the movie.
The video ended, however, with him telling the viewer: “Give me a second and I will tell you everything. Everything.”
If Diesel wasn’t the candy ass in question, it’s hard to know what that “everything,” might have been, but further proof was yet to come.
After this, on August 19,2016, Johnson posted a picture thanking his various co-stars for their work on The Fate of the Furious, before speaking highly of his upcoming Jumanji co-stars.
However, he missed out one man in the post – Vin Diesel.
Seeming to confirm the feud, Michelle Rodriguez told People: “Any human being who knows what men are like knows to stay out [of those] situations and let them figure it out.”
The following year, Diesel attempted to allude to the feud while trying to suggest things were much better between them, telling USA Today: “I don’t think the world really realises how close we are, in a weird way.
“I think some things may be blown out of proportion. I don’t think that was his intention. I know he appreciates how much I work this franchise.
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“In my house, he’s Uncle Dwayne. It’s not always easy being an alpha. And it’s two alphas. Being an alpha is sometimes a pain in the…”
Diesel later said they “still love each other,” while Johnson was telling Entertainment Weekly: “Just like, in life, you have different philosophies and people have different fundamental philosophies on how you do things.
“And again, the most important thing is just the movie. So I’m happy that we’re here in New York City, I’m happy the fans love it.”
While Diesel seems to still be happy with “Uncle Dwayne,” The Rock doesn’t sound quite so happy with his co-star.
Earlier this year, Johnson starred with Jason Statham in a Fast & Furious spin-off, Hobbs and Shaw, so it may be the team behind Fast & Furious decided the best way to keep all parties happy was to keep them separate.
