Lamar Jackson made his acting debut earlier this week. The star Ravens quarterback cameoed in an episode of Power Book III: Raising Kanan, playing the character named “E-Tone.” And he did a pretty good job! Lamar delivered two lines convincingly in a scene with popular rap artist Joey Bada$$.
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What’s even cooler is that Lamar has been a fan of the show for a long time. Back in 2023, he tweeted that he was a huge fan and wanted to appear in a few episodes. Well, the two-time MVP just got his wish.
But when his teammate Isaiah Likely saw the performance, he wasn’t as blown away as others were. He thought Lamar needed to loosen up a bit and ease into the scenes instead of looking so tense.
“I have seen E-Tone,” Likely told Kay Adams on her show Up & Adams. She then asked what he thought of the performance.
“I told him he needs a little work, obviously. I’m his acting coach, so I tell him like what he could do better, what he couldn’t. I just told him to just relax. You ain’t gotta be all ‘grrr’ all the time. Just relax a bit.”
The star tight end’s comments got a good laugh out of Adams. It’s pretty funny to imagine Likely playing acting coach to his quarterback. Definitely the kind of behind-the-scenes footage fans would love to see.
Despite the criticism from his teammate, Lamar seems like he’s happy to have been a part of a show that he’s loved for years. But he also shared in an interview with People that he was mostly focused on not messing anything up when it was his turn to read lines.
“I’m around Joey Bada$$ and these guys, I don’t want to mess up the line and have those guys redoing it. They’ve been here, they’re professional, that’s their job,” Lamar stated. “I just didn’t want to mess up and have them redo it. And I don’t think I really did, to be honest.”
As mentioned, it wasn’t just a one-liner appearance that Lamar had in the show. He actually has a meaty role that’s expected to recur. Lamar’s character, “E-Tone,” is described as a dangerous assistant to the character Unique, played by Joey Bada$$. He’s an intimidating figure who shouldn’t be messed with, even murdering another character in a club bathroom at one point.
It was a cool cameo appearance from Lamar, and there should be more to come. But will he impress his fellow teammates with his next appearance? Only time will tell. He’s going to have to sink into the role and look more comfortable to achieve that goal, it seems.
But if there’s anything that Lamar’s NFL career has told us, it’s that he can defy everyone’s expectations with his ability. Maybe he can do the same on the acting stage.
