'Luke Cage' Showrunner Says the Swear Jar Was to Get Prince on the Show

'Luke Cage' showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker explains how the Swear Jar was a tribute to Prince to get him on the show.

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Early on in Marvel's latest Netflix series Luke Cage, the idea of the "swear jar" is instituted. If you're unfamiliar with the jar, the concept behind it is simple: anyone who curses has to add some money to the jar. The @LukeCage Twitter account made a dope reference to it after Luke Cage broke Netflix. While the show used it as a way to show how the patrons of Pop's barber shop should behave, Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker recently explained why it was included in the show.

The "Swear Jar" was for Prince. I was going to show him the first two episodes and convince him to play in episode 13.

"The "Swear Jar" was for Prince," Coker tweeted. "I was going to show him the first two episodes and convince him to play in episode 13."

The legendary artist Prince passed away back in April. One of the more infamous stories about Prince's devotion to being a Jehovah's Witness was the fact that at his Paisley Park studios, he had a swear jar. James Lundstrom, who'd known Prince for years, previously said that "If you swore at Paisley Park, he would charge you between 10 and 3 dollars per swear word. And he wasn't joking. You had to pay in cash in the bucket."

That's a pretty subtle shout to Prince, but the thought of Prince actually finding his way into Luke Cage? Would he have been playing a show at Harlem's Paradise? Or would he just be casually walking around Harlem, giving Luke dap? The world may never know.

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