With Katt Williams opening up a Pandora’s box of messiness by attacking his “Friday After Next” co-star Rickey Smiley as well as “Next Friday” star Michael Blackson during his “Club Shay Shay” interview last month, along with Mike Epps — who starred in both of those “Friday” films — getting into a tussle of words with Shay Shay himself, Shannon Sharpe, it’s a good time to revisit the “Friday” trilogy.
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Mind you, none of the sequels come close to the 1996 original “Friday.” Along with introducing us to the revelation that was Chris Tucker’s Smokey, the film gave us “Bye, Felicia,” which is among the most prominent catchphrases in the Black cultural lexicon.
The phrase was uttered by Craig (Ice Cube) to rebuff Felicia (Angela Means), a down-on-her-luck hoodrat and the sister of Craig’s love interest Debbie (Nia Long), which has always been interesting considering the actresses look as not-alike as biologically possible.
“Bye, Felicia” was resurrected in 2009 as a commonly repeated phrase on the endlessly quotable “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” It spent subsequent years gaining sentience, becoming fodder for early (and still prevailing) memes from the film.
VH1 had a Black women “empowerment” reality show named “Bye Felicia!” (which seems counterintuitive) that ran for one season in 2014, and there was a brilliant meta use of the phrase in the 2015 “Straight Outta Compton” N.W.A. biopic, in which Cube, portrayed by his real-life son O’Shea Jackson, Jr. leveled it toward a hotel groupie.
As with many things created by Black folks, white people co-opted the phrase and stunk it up – especially pundit and former sportscaster Keith Olbermann, who always used it when he was on ESPN. Hit up the former Twitter right now and type “Bye Felicia” in the search bar…you’ll see it’s not us using it like that anymore.
During “Friday’s” 20th anniversary in 2015, retrospectives focused primarily on “Bye, Felicia;” Ice Cube admitted that it warms his heart to hear a phrase from his first foray into script writing still resonate with audiences after decades.
However, Means doesn’t have the same affinity for “Bye, Felicia” as the rest of us.
The New York-born, Ann Arbor, Mich.-raised Means got her start modeling and acting in early 1990s in shows like “In Living Color” and “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper.” Her first film role was as Kid’s fiancé Veda in “House Party 3” – in which she’s so gorgeous that one can be forgiven for losing the real Means in her disheveled Felicia appearance from just a year later.
Means spoke positively about her career-defining role and the catchphrase during a 2015 VIBE interview. But her sentiment about “Bye, Felicia” and the perception of her character seems to have soured in recent years. For starters, Means takes umbrage with the designation of Felicia as a “crackhead,” which I’d admittedly never thought about before she said it.
“You never saw Felicia doing drugs…she wasn’t a crackhead, she just lost,” Means said in a 2022 interview with The Art of Dialogue. “And everybody lost ain’t a dope fiend!”
During a Comedy Hype interview from the same year, Means questioned why it’s so easy for people to dismiss Felicia and characters like her. As with the Art of Dialogue interview, she’s alarmingly moved to tears when discussing Felicia.
“She was kind, you didn’t hear her using any profanity. Why would they be so unkind to a family member?” she asked. “Why would people be so dismissive? Why would no one defend her? And I’ve asked this question for 30 years. Why is it so easy for us to dismiss each other like that?”
These days, Means, 60, is an author and founder of Jackfruit Café, a vegan restaurant in Tahoka, Texas with a menu full of items titled after “Friday” references, including “The Deebo” and “The Felicia.” Her only child, Brad Kaaya, Jr., is a former NFL quarterback.
Her menu and social media presence indicate that Means isn’t exactly shying away from her association with “Friday.” But she makes it clear that y’all can quit with all the “Byes” and the “Felicias.”
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