Boots Riley was seated next to Questlove when The Roots music maker told his story of the time he knew Kanye West would outshine him. Boots got a moment to share a story of his own while on the Storytellers panel at the Tribeca Film Festival, detailing a time Will Ferrell saved his life.
Boots and his hip-hop group, the Coup were once on tour together and all traveling on a tour bus. The vehicle had an unfortunate detail, which made it so when the power was off, none of the doors would open on the bus. One night, Boots was going to head to bed in a section where the doors were but changed his mind when he found out his team was about to watch Anchorman.
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“Somebody brought the DVD on there and I said, ‘F–k that,'” he explained about deciding to stay up and watch the film. While everyone was watching the movie, their bus went off a cliff and dropped 35 feet. Thankfully, everyone survived but if Boots had gone to bed, he would have been in danger.
“So I always say that Will Ferrell saved my life,” he said.