Few individuals had as much of a stranglehold on 90s culture as Jim Carrey and Tupac Shakur. And despite the vastly different paths each bloke would take, the two shared an unexpected friendship. It’s to the point Jim Carrey actually kept in regular contact with Tupac, which even involved writing letters when the latter was in prison.
In November of 1993, Tupac was charged with the first-degree sexual assault of a woman in a hotel and sentenced to four years in prison. According to a 2017 report, Jim Carrey – who happened to be the iconic rapper’s favourite actor – took it upon himself to write his friend letters. While Carrey was predominantly known for physical comedy above all other forms, the letters were apparently hilarious enough to make Tupac’s incarceration a little easier.
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Granted, their polarities are precisely what makes this friendship so fascinating, but Jim Carrey and Tupac actually had quite a bit in common. Contrary to his “thug life” persona, Tupac actively expressed indignation towards the US government’s policies surrounding gang wars, social standing, racism, and poverty. In recent years, Carrey has been communicating his own criticism of the government – so it’s not all that surprising that Tupac’s message was able to find an audience in the career funnyman.
It’s probably too much of a reach to suggest that Jim Carrey was responsible for the reformation of Tupac while he was in prison, as the rapper was also understood to have read the works of Niccolo Machiavelli and Sun Tzu. The works of both philosophers likely influenced his worldview far more, given how he would later adopt the pseudonym “Makaveli.”
Tragically, violence could not be escaped. Tupac Shakur would be gunned down only a year after being released from prison. It was an event that reverberated around the world, with millions of fans reacting to the loss of their idol, in addition to Jim Carrey himself who mourned the loss of something greater: a dear friend.
