The famed director has officially left the Tupac biopic.

A biopic about legendary MC Tupac Shakur has been in the works for at least a decade, but director John Singleton complicated things by leaving the production earlier this week. In a post on Instagram, he laid out his thoughts:

“Real talk! The reason I am not making this picture is because the people involved aren’t really respectful of the legacy of Tupac Amaru Shakur. I won’t say much if you want you can read my articles in Hollywood Reporter on authenticity in Black Storytelling … To Pac’s real fans just know I am still planning a movie on Tupac … It doesn’t matter what they do mines will be better… Tupac was much more than a hip hop artist … He was a black man guided by his passions … Of most importance was his love of black people and culture … Something the people involved in this movie know nothing about… Real talk! How you gonna make a movie about a man when you suing his mother to get the rights to tell his story?! They have no true love 4 Pac so this movie will not be made with love! And that’s why my ass isn’t involved ! If Tupac knew what was going on he’d ride on all these fools and take it to the streets… But I won’t do that … I’ll just make my own project. What Yall think about that?!!”

The Poetic Justice director’s departure is unfortunate, especially considering the fact that he wanted to do it in a Shakur family-approved manner. The studio behind the feature is most likely bringing on director Carl Franklin to replace Singleton. When pedigrees get compared, Singleton seems like he’d be the better director, but time will tell.

– Dylan “CineMasai” Green