Luke Cage has quickly become Marvel’s latest Netflix hit, deluging the internet with hearty cries of “Sweet Christmas!” from fans of Mike Colter’s hard-swinging, bulletproof hero. Those whose feelings on the show can’t be fully contained by slightly hokey comic book catchphrases might have to pay the price, though, since the show’s home base, Pop’s Barber Shop, has a pretty strict “swear jar” policy for the potty-mouthed among its clientele. (Or fans of the show freaking out over brief Netflix outages, as the case may be.)
As it turns out, though, the jar wasn’t simply intended to curb curse words and collect petty cash for donut runs. According to showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker, it was also a subtle way to lure a pint-size superstar onto the show. Before his death in April, Prince—a devoted Jehovah’s Witness—was notoriously tough on the foul-mouthed, fining swearers at his Paisley Park estate between $3 and $10 for every filthy word. Coker apparently intended to show Prince some shots of Luke Cage’s own swear jar, in the hopes that he’d pull a New Girl and stop by the show. “I was going to show him the first two episodes,” wrote Coker, a former music writer for The L.A. Times, “And convince him to play in episode 13.” Alas, those plans were not to be, but their legacy lives on in every “bullcrap” the show’s soft-talking, hard-hitting hero serves up.