There are many interesting layers to Netflix’s recently premiered Marvel series Luke Cage, and anyone who’s watched even the first few episodes has likely noticed a few reoccurring motifs. One is the musical guests that perform at antagonist Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stoke’s Harlem’s Paradise club, and the swear jar in Pop’s barber shop is another. As the show’s showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker revealed, it turns out the latter was put in place in hopes of nabbing a specific musician for the former: Prince.

“The ‘Swear Jar’ was for Prince,” Coker wrote on Twitter. “I was going to show him the first two episodes and convince him to play in episode 13.”



Prince, a devout Jehovah’s Witness, was known to charge offenders up to $20 for swearing inside his Paisley Park compound. Apparently Coker hoped to appeal to Prince’s sense of decency by making the swear jar a key piece of the show’s story. Unfortunately, he never got the chance to ask the late legend to participate in the series, and Cottonmouth’s club had to go on without a Prince.

Luke Cage is streaming now on Netflix, with Charles Bradley, Raphael Saadiq, Faith Evans, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, d-Nice, and others making appearances throughout the show.