Sheryl Lee Ralph Reacts to ‘Sister Act 2’ Meme
The View celebrated Sister Act 2 turning 30 with a big reunion.
Whoopi Goldberg sat down with her former co-stars Kathy Najimy, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Wendy Makkena, as well as music supervisor Marc Shaiman and music producer Mervyn Warren to look back at the making of the hit musical.
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Among the highlights, Ralph, who played the mother of Lauryn Hill’s character, reacted to her memorable quote from the film becoming a meme. In the movie, Ralph sternly tells Hill that “singing does not put food on the table” and “does not pay the bills.” A viral video features clips from the scene, combined with footage of Ralph’s various musical performances throughout her career.
When shown the video on The View, the current Abbott Elementary star howled laughing while watching the clip.
“In my mind, I was challenging my Jamaican mother,” she recalled about the inspiration for the scene. “When I told her I was going to be an actress, she [said], ‘You’re going to be an actress? Working with all those fake and phony people? On my hard-earned money? No! No!’ So in my mind during the scene I’m playing my mom.”
Ralph also opened up about reuniting with her onscreen daughter at the Kaya Fest in 2018. “It was so great to see Lauryn grow into the woman that she has become, overcoming and still holding on the way that she has,” said the actress. “She looked at me and she said, ‘Miss Ralph, thank you. I was so young. I knew nothing but thank you, but you were wrong about The Fugees.”
Hill’s remark was in reference to advice Ralph had given her on the Sister Act 2 set, where the musician told Ralph that she had plans of becoming famous after the film and starting a group called The Fugees. “I said, ‘This is going to work out. You will probably be famous. But I don’t know about that Fugees [name],” Ralph recalled. “But clearly, I was wrong on one.”
Sunny Hostin, who was among the panelists interviewing the movie’s cast, noted that Najimy previously said that while she “loved” working on the first film, Sister Act 2 had her “in awe” while reprising her role as Sister Mary Patrick.
Najimy explained that it was the “miraculous” children in the cast who made the sequel even better. “We were all like one huge family. They got the tone of it. They were so talented and gorgeous and smart and fun — and I don’t lie,” she said.
Meanwhile, Makkena recalled a moment walking in her nun costume with Najimy and Goldberg around San Francisco, where the trio ended up going into a porn shop.
“We end up at the counter and Kathy’s like, ‘Hold on a second!’ She comes up alongside us and she’s got a plastic [sex toy],” she recalled. “The lady behind the counter … she looked at the three of us and said, ‘Where are you from? What church are you from?'”
Makkena turned to Goldberg and asked, “Do you remember what you said?” The EGOT winner shook her head.
“You said something like The Order of the Sister of Mary Kay,” remembered Makkena.
“That sounds right,” confirmed Goldberg, laughing.
Besides their conversation, the Sister Act 2 cast reunited with many of the young performers from the film to perform “Oh Happy Day,” with Goldberg donning her Sister Mary Clarence costume once again.
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