by It was a sad but memorable reunion for those on the sets of the Fast and the Furious. Actor Vin Diesel and Cody Walker, brother of late Paul Walker got together on the latter’s 8th death anniversary to pay their homage and respect for the deceased actor. Cody Walker hosted his annual FuelFest music and automotive festival in Phoenix, Arizona and dedicated the event entirely in the memory of brother Paul who passed away in a tragic motorbike accident in 2013. A share of the proceeds collected from the fest was earmarked for charity to benefit Reach Out Worldwide, an organisation founded by Paul and currently run by Cody as the CEO.
The fest was graced with the presence of Fast and Furious actor, the celebrated action figure of Hollywood, Vin Diesel and co-star, Tyrese Gibson to stand by Cody and not only support his endeavour but also pay his respects for his best friend Paul Walker. Cody and Vin Diesel have already been in close contact ever since the actor passed away, mostly owing to the former’s involvement in reshooting parts of F7 movie. Paul Walker passed away in a motorbike crash while shooting the movie and had quite a few parts of his character’s scenes left, for which Cody had to takeover. Along with VFX and a lot of digital creativity, he redid Walker’s remaining scenes so that the film could be completed. Cody also has a third sibling Caleb, and together the brothers provided voiceovers and acted as Paul’s body doubles to complete the film, which was released in 2015. Both Tyrese and Diesel have made appearances on-stage with Cody before as well.
Later in the day, Vin Diesel took to Instagram to post a couple of pictures of him embracing Cody and captioned it, “I’m here with my brother in FuelFest, It is an honour to see the whole car culture being brought together by my brother Cody,” at the crowded Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.
While remembering Paul fondly by his nickname Pablo, Vin believed that Paul would have been really proud of whatever Cody has tried to pull off. Cody for his part expressed gratitude to the action hitman and added, “Thank you all, for everybody that showed up, who showed so much support today. Thank you to my family for showing up in a big way, It’s a huge deal.”
Tyrese wrote on his Instagram Story, “Family is here at @fuelfest.”
Cody regards Vin Diesel as family and has expressed his affection and gratitude for the entire cast’s support when Walker passed away. In an interview with TMZ in June Cody told, “Vin and the whole family have done a really good job of tastefully kind of letting the character ride off into the sunset,” and that Paul would have been particularly enjoyed and approved of the way the did justice to his character.
“It’s a wild, wild ride at this point. Paul was very much the purist, the real car guy. I couldn’t speculate what he would think. I just know that Vin always takes a very serious approach to keeping Paul’s legacy in mind and he’s always done a really nice job of paying tribute to his character. They worked together and were brothers for years,” he added.
Walker is currently survived by sisters Amie and Ashlie, dad Paul Walker III, mom Cheryl Walker and daughter Meadow Walker.
