Rush Hour deserves to sit amongst the best buddy cop movies of all time, and that’s in great part due to the performances of lead actors Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. The two stars are down-right fantastic together, and they share a number of great moments together in the franchise’s original 1998 installment. One such scene involves Tucker’s Det. James Carter scolding Chan’s Chief Inspector Lee for touching his radio. As it turns out, over 27 years later, Chan still doesn’t understand the iconic line featured in that scene.
The moment in question, which can be found on YouTube, happens as Carter and Lee are cruising Los Angeles in the latter’s car and Lee turns on the radio, after which he delightfully listens to the Beach Boys. Carter then bluntly expresses disbelief over Lee’s actions, emphatically telling him, “Don’t you ever touch a Black man’s radio!” It’s easily one of the funniest exchanges in the entire film, and I always chuckle at it whenever I rewatch the film.
Respectfully, I can’t help but chuckle a bit when hearing Jackie Chan’s comments about not understanding the gag. The actor, who’s been promoting the 2025 movie release Karate Kid: Legends, took part in a wide-ranging interview with People that was shared to Instagram. While reflecting on Rush Hour, which still stands as one of Chan’s best movies, didn’t mince words when expressing his confusion over the radio-related moment:
After the movie finished, I still don’t like it. Because I just don’t understand a lot of things. The culture is totally different. The people laughing, ‘Never touch a Black man’s radio.’ I just… ‘Why? Why so funny?’ I just don’t understand! [It’s a] totally different culture. I was very disappointed.
The revered movie icon is correct in that Carter’s brutally honest line has to do with differences in culture – and not just simply general American customs. Carter’s visceral response falls greatly in line with Black culture, in which there’s a great emphasis on being thoughtful of how one interacts with or handles another person’s possessions. Yes, people of various walks of life exhibit similar habits, but this idea – in the context of Rush Hour – is conveyed as a touchstone of African American culture. And, being a Black man myself, I can definitely attest to the importance of that principle.
Jackie Chan later mentioned in his interview that by starring in more American films and living in the states off and on over the years, he’s become somewhat more attuned to Western culture. (As he admitted though, he’s only come to understand “a little bit” more.) So it seems while Chan was entertaining the masses with Shanghai Noon, Shanghai Nights, The Tuxedo and more, the production requirements of the movie benefitted him from a personal standpoint.
While the Drunken Master icon continues to produce American movies, there’s been speculation as to whether he and Chris Tucker might finally make Rush Hour 4. Both stars seem excited about possibly being able to make another sequel. Tucker expressed enthusiasm when asked about the project a few years ago and, just recently, his amiable co-star also discussed a fourth movie while explaining what made the 2007 threequel disappointing.
I’d personally be down to see both Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, who still does his own stunts, reprise their famous characters for another bombastic and hilarious blockbuster. Should that happen, I’d hope to see more cultural misunderstandings between Lee and Carter. Also, I’d hope that, for Chan’s sake, he’d be in the jokes more so than he was when he filmed the fan-favorite radio scene.