It’s hard to believe that some of cinema’s most memorable scenes nearly didn’t happen. Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur’s short kiss in Poetic Justice nearly didn’t happen because Jackson originally refused to kiss the rapper. And, to be honest, her excuse was just rude.

Tupac claimed he was insulted by Jackson’s ultimatum in an interview with The Source, and pushed back on her unscientific explanation for not wanting to kiss him. Jackson had no choice but to do it in the end.

Over two decades after its premiere, Poetic Justice (1993) is still a fan favorite. Janet Jackson, Tupac Shakur, Regina King, and Joe Torry feature in John Singleton’s film. Jackson plays Justice, a poet who is mourning the death of her partner, Markell. Her best friend Iesha (King) invites her on a road trip with her boyfriend Chicago (Torry) and Chicago’s friend Lucky (Shakur). But Justice and Lucky, a spirited mail carrier with bad pickup lines, struggle to co-exist.

By the conclusion of the film, their characters were intended to be in love with one another. Typical Hollywood fare: Two people who were off-the-charts attractive making out on camera. There was just one issue. According to reports, Jackson refused to kiss Shakur or do anything more intimate with him.

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Tupac was ecstatic to work with Jackson, but he left the movie skeptical about their friendship after stating that Jackson and her crew forced him to undergo an AIDS test for a love scene.

Tupac quipped that if Jackson had wanted him to take a test like this before an in-person intimate session, he would have taken “four” of them. But he thought it was unfair that she was required to take the exam for a basic love session while others she’d had love scenes with weren’t.

“I don’t know if it was Janet that it came from, but suddenly, out of the blue, they wanted me to take an AIDS test for this love scene and I did not disagree if we were really gonna make love,” he stated in a post-production interview. “I said, ‘If I can make love with Janet Jackson, I’ll take four AIDS tests.’ “But if I’m gonna do a love scene with her just like somebody else did and they didn’t take a test, I’m not taking a test. Not only am I not taking the test, but get out of my trailer.”

It’s important to remember that this was also at the time when the United States was still trying to figure out what was causing the AIDS pandemic. In the end, they kissed on screen. After the shooting ended, however, there would be no connection between the two.

Despite the awkward request, he said that he and Jackson remained cordial during the shoot. He claims that the Pleasure Principle singer even provided him her phone number so that they could stay in touch. In the same interview, Tupac said that when he phoned the number, it was no longer in service.

Singleton created and directed Poetic Justice and was off-set pals with Tupac, with whom he often joked. In a 2011 interview with VIBE, Singleton said that he was the one who came up with the idea of telling Tupac that he needed to take an AIDS test for the love scene.

“That was a publicity stunt we came up with. Me, Janet, Tupac, Regina King and Joe Torry were sitting on the set. Everyone is trying to impress Janet anyway. I was like, “Man I don’t know about this love scene. You’ve been hitting all this s**t. I don’t know if I want you touching my actress,’” he recalled.

Singleton corroborated Tupac’s account of him denying the request. Tupac’s co-star, Joe Torry, informed VIBE that Tupac grew upset after receiving so many requests from the film team, as well as jokes about it. Singleton exploited the scenario as marketing for the film after seeing his response and knowing Tupac’s inability to control himself.

Singleton added, “You do s**t like that and you know everyone is going to be talking about our movie.”

Who knows whether Jackson’s denial was genuine. Tupac is unable to explain his side of the story at this time.

Several years later, tragedy struck when the rapper was shot in Las Vegas. Janet Jackson’s career suffered a setback in 2004 when she had a “wardrobe malfunction” at the Super Bowl halftime show, according to US Magazine.