Chadwick Boseman: Clarke Peters says he ‘regrets’ calling late star ‘precious’ in emotional interview

Clarke Peters, who starred alongside Chadwick Boseman in Da 5 Bloods, has said he regrets judging the late actor on the set of the film.

In a recent interview on Good Morning Britain, The Wire star recalled working with Boseman, who died of colon cancer last month.

“I have to say with a little bit of regret that I probably wasn’t the most altruistic in that environment, but hindsight teaches us a lot of things,” Peters said.

“What I’m addressing is, basically, my wife asked what Chadwick was like. I was really excited to work with him. I said, ‘I think he’s a little bit precious.’ And she said, ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘Because he’s surrounded by people who are fawning over him.’”

Peters explained Boseman had a “Chinese practitioner” massaging his back on set and a makeup artist massaging his feet, as well as having his girlfriend there “holding his hand”.

“I’m thinking maybe the Black Panther thing went to his head,” said Peters.

Fighting back tears, the actor added that he now understands the illness Boseman was suffering from at the time. “I regret even having those thoughts because they were really looking after him,” he said.

Peters then began to cry, saying he was ”sorry”.

Da 5 Bloods is a war movie by Spike Lee that was released on Netflix in June.

Boseman’s final film, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, is expected to be released on the platform later this year.

Boseman died aged 43 on Friday 28 August. He had kept his illness a secret from the public and many of his colleagues, including Letitia Wright, who played his on-screen sister in Black Panther.

On Tuesday, Wright shared a moving eulogy for Boseman. “I wish I got to say goodbye,” she can be heard saying in the video, her voice cracking. “I messaged you a couple times but I thought you were just busy. I didn’t know you were dealing with so much.”