‘AUNT VIV’ RIPS SMITH
Pushback over boycott plan
Actress Janet Hubert had strong words for Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, in a widely circulated YouTube video posted Monday, but the beef with her former co-star goes all the way back to Bel-Air.
Hubert, who portrayed Aunt Viv for three seasons on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, strongly condemned Pinkett Smith for suggesting, in a video posted to Facebook, that black actors should consider boycotting the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony after several prominent films featuring minorities were overlooked for nominations.
“Girlfriend, there’s a lot of s--going on in the world that you all don’t seem to recognize. People are dying. Our boys are being shot left and right. People are hungry, people are starving. People are trying to pay bills. And you’re talking about some motherf---ing actors and Oscars. And it just ain’t that deep. And here’s the other thing — for you to ask other ... black actors to jeopardize their career and their standing in a town that you know damn well you don’t do that,” Hubert said, adding that the Smiths have made “millions and millions of dollars from the very people that you talk about boycotting.”
Hubert then referenced some of the history that led to her longstanding feud with Smith.
“I seem to remember at option time coming to you and saying, ‘You know what, Will, you’re the star of the show, why don’t we all get together and with you maybe we could get a little raise,’” Hubert recalled. “‘Maybe the network, since, you know, the show is such a hit and you being the star of the show, your influence would help us greatly, like they did on Friends, like white shows do.’ Remember that?
“And your response to me was my deal is my deal and y’alls deal is y’alls deal,” Hubert added.
Hubert left the show in 1993 and was replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid. The actress wrote about being fired from the show in her 2009 memoir, Perfection is Not a Sitcom Mom, in which she painted Smith as egotistical. In 2011, Hubert called Smith “an egomaniac,” telling TMZ she would not be part of any Fresh Prince reunion “as I will never do anything with an a--hole like Will Smith.”
The Aunt Viv switch was notable for fans of the sitcom. For one, Reid had a noticeably lighter skin tone than Hubert. And whatever controversy may have been brewing backstage, many fans saw no reason for Hubert to have been replaced.
Hubert has been far more outspoken than Smith about the feud, though the actor did address the matter in a radio interview, according to Us Weekly.
“She’s mad now but she’s been mad all along,” Smith reportedly told an Atlanta radio station. “She said once, ‘I’ve been in the business for 10 years and this snotty-nosed punk comes along and gets a show.’ No matter what, to her I’m just the Antichrist.”
Smith has support from other Fresh Prince alums. Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton Banks, was candid in a 2009 appearance at State University of New York at Oneonta. “I had an absolutely amazing time working with Will, with Tatyana (Ali) and James (Avery) and Karyn (Parsons) and everybody was great,” the actor recalled. “First mom? Not so much.”
“Basically, at the end of the day ... the b---- was crazy,” Ribeiro told the crowd. “She went nuts, long story short, and there were days where we were on the set and she would literally go off on people and it got to a point, by the time the second season came around, where we’re like ‘this is unacceptable.’
“She made it very difficult for us to work and unfortunately, she was then fired.”
She’s mad now but she’s been mad all along … No matter what, to her I’m just the Antichrist. WILL SMITH