Anyone who thinks they are the biggest fan of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, may be in for a little competition for the title with Ice Cube’s son.
O’Shea Jackson Jr. sat with former NFL player Julian Edelman on his podcast “Games With Names” on Feb. 18 where he shared the moments that led up to him meeting the former WWE wrestler, and how the introduction went.
He said, “I’m in sixth grade. Twelve years old. Not at the height of my powers as Shea but I’m getting there. And so sixth grade word around the school spreads like wildfire.”
The “Den of Thieves” actor recalled kids at school coming up to him saying, ‘Shea your dad’s here.’”
Since it wasn’t a normal occurrence for his father to be picking him up from school, O’Shea Jr. thought he may have been in trouble.
“So I’m thinking ‘f-ck what did I do.’ Like, oh my gosh. Picking me up from school is grandma business, like, my dad’s not doing this, dude. So I’m like I’m f-cked, I can’t think of what I did,” he stated.
He knew something was up because his dad showed up in a two-door “nice car,” as opposed to the family car with four doors.
O’Shea Jr. said after getting in the car his dad strikes up a conversation asking about his day. Ice Cube proceeded to ask his son if he knew where they were headed to and he did not. Ice Cube’s son eventually realized that they were heading to Venice in Los Angeles.
As a kid who grew up in the Valley, he understood this was typically an “hour long trip” before reaching their destination at an unspecified restaurant.
“We’re at a table that is bigger than it should be for two people and then in walks my f-cking hero The Rock, and he just sits next to me and him and my dad have a meeting over lunch and I am starstruck beyond belief,” O’Shea Jr. continued.
He explained how extremely nervous he was in Johnson’s presence after attending “The Scorpion King” movie premiere in 2001 and seeing “The Mummy Returns” twice, — two films where “The Rock” played the lead role.
“I can’t talk. I can’t get any words to come out of my mouth,” O’Shea recalled when meeting his wrestling hero. “I’m just sitting watching this dude and as a kid, the memories I have from this is I got a cheeseburger, he got a cheeseburger. I got a root beer, he got a Diet Coke. I thought that was weird. I wasn’t really feeling that.”
@OsheaJacksonJr when he saw The Rock 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/yANSOu6SlR
— Jorts (@luvmy2girls4evr) February 21, 2025
“My dad was like, dude, talk to him, whose ass do you want him to kick?” the “Straight Outta Compton” star recalled his father saying.
Sharing what happened at the end of their meeting, O’Shea Jr. said The Rock autographed his shirt, took a photo with him and then paid for his own meal.
“The [waitress] lady came back for the change, he didn’t take the change. He just walked out and I took his quarter and put it in my pocket and I put it in a sandwich bag and I still have it.”
He said “The Rock’s quarter” is now in the possession of his mom, Kimberly Woodruff, for safekeeping.
“His mom threw that quarter away immediately,” one person joked on X, while another said, “Many people missed the bit about the quarter. It wasn’t The Rock’s quarter, but the waitresses.”
Viewers who watched the podcast on YouTube reacted to the actor’s story, predicting he could one day be bigger than his father.
One person said, “Bruh is low key cool as f-ck. Might even be bigger than his old man one day.”
Meanwhile, one irritated social media user blasted him writing, “[Y]our dad is Ice Cube. A member of NWA and Westside Connection and you are star struck by a fake athlete. Unbelievable.”
Still some fans understood that some childhood heroes never go away. “I feel the exact same way The rock will forever be one of my favorite Goated wrestlers of all time and I went to ‘The Sorpion King’ movie premiere as well when I was a kid watched more than once still as a kid ‘The Mummy Returns’ three times so.”
O’Shea Jackson Jr. is 34, which means his starstruck interaction with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson likely took place in the early 2000s.
