Idris Elba Recalls Selling Marijuana to Dave Chapelle

Before he became a famous actor and DJ, Idris Elba sold a bit of weed on the side – and one of his clients was Dave Chappelle. Elba was a guest on The Jess Cagle Show recently and recalled that when he was living in the US and his acting career ““fell flat on its face very quickly for about four years” to make ends meet.

“I did that for a little bit just to, you know, help pay the way,” he said (per JoBlo). “I DJ’ed quite a bit. I was a doorman. I was a doorman at Carolines comedy club [in New York], which is fascinating now, when I meet the comedians that you kind of remember the English guy. Tall English guy with the funny accent and the little hair. David Chappelle remembers me ’cause he used to buy weed from me. Anyway, moving on. Yeah, I did all kinds of things to be honest, all kinds of things.”

Chappelle has previously acknowledged that he bought marijuana from Elba often before the latter star got his big break on The Wire. Elba voices the role of Knuckles in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, which dominated the box office this weekend.