Behind the laughs and feel-good moments of this beloved sitcom lies a darker reality. Join us as we reveal the shocking behind-the-scenes stories that shaped this iconic show, from cast feuds and financial troubles to career-ending typecasting and on-set injuries. These revelations might change how you view this classic series forever.
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00:00You know, Ms. Banks, since you had that baby, there's something different about you.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for not-so-fun facts behind the
00:11scenes of the classic sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
00:14Oh, come on, don't do this well.
00:16I know, I'm sorry.
00:18Tatiana throwing me off.
00:22Number 10, Alfonso Ribeiro's Career Challenges.
00:26Alfonso Ribeiro's acting career was born with a silver spoon long before America was dancing
00:31the Carlton, and yet two hit sitcoms proved to be a curse.
00:35How dare you not take Will?
00:37He's full of potential.
00:39That's why we want him.
00:40It's you we don't want.
00:42Me.
00:46But I did everything.
00:47Ribeiro struggled to find high-profile and unique roles after the end of The Fresh Prince.
00:53There were always opportunities in typecasting and the nostalgia industry.
00:58It's not unusual to be loved by everyone for one role, but Ribeiro has gone so far as to
01:03say Carlton ended his career as a true actor.
01:07Most of the world can't get past Carlton.
01:10So because of that, you know, I have been typecasted to the point where it's almost impossible
01:20for people to see me doing something else.
01:23After winning Dancing with the Stars in 2014, he was revitalized as host of the popular
01:28show and America's Funniest Videos.
01:31Still, the tragedy of one-hit wonders in acting is nothing to laugh about.
01:35You're no longer allowed to act because you did that one so well that we can't see you
01:43as something else is a really difficult transition that took years for me to understand and to
01:52get past.
01:53Number nine, stuntman Jazzy Jeff.
01:56Whenever Jazz visited wearing a particular shirt, we knew what was coming.
02:00When you go to your car, you gotta walk.
02:02What?
02:02Don't you?
02:03Please, watch this.
02:08Yo, Mr. Banks, my tubby judicial brother.
02:17It's long been assumed that the running gag of Uncle Phil tossing the nuisance out of
02:21his house was shot only once.
02:23DJ Jazzy Jeff was actually committed to the bit, but reached his breaking point when it
02:28was first filmed.
02:29Like, I had to jump.
02:31And every last one of those takes were easily 50 jumps.
02:36So I would be black and blue after doing it.
02:39While there were obviously safety measures, Jazz was still so banged up by the end of filming
02:44that he persuaded the producers to recycle the shot for future ejections.
02:48The outfit he wore would return for those scenes in the interest of continuity.
02:52Losing the element of surprise with a beloved gag was a small price to pay for the actor's
02:57safety.
02:58I know that look.
03:00You're not getting any younger.
03:03This isn't good for your back.
03:06I brought this on myself.
03:08Number eight, gossip book.
03:14Not all the tension on set was dealt with directly.
03:17Before the burn book in Mean Girls, the Fresh Prince had a journal stored in a kitchen drawer.
03:22In a 2014 interview with ABC, Karen Parsons revealed that the cast and crew would regularly
03:28pull it out to write down whatever was on their minds.
03:31Sometimes it was poetry.
03:33Sometimes it was a rant about colleagues who weren't living up to professional standards
03:37or manners.
03:38We're young adults here.
03:39I mean, we have a right to our own opinions.
03:41Yeah.
03:47These entries were available for anyone to see and hopefully take as constructive criticism.
03:53Parsons wound up with the journal and seems to look back at it fondly.
03:56Most might see it as a risky way to clear the air at work.
03:59You know what?
04:01I'm sick of this.
04:02Let's go.
04:03Let's go.
04:03Right now.
04:04I'm sick of this.
04:05I'm sick of it.
04:06Come on.
04:08Come on.
04:09Let's go.
04:09Come on.
04:09What?
04:10What you want to do?
04:11What you want to do?
04:15Like that hurt.
04:17Number seven.
04:19Who ended the show?
04:20There wasn't a dry eye when the Banks family bid farewell after six seasons.
04:25Actually, it wasn't as natural of a conclusion as fans thought.
04:28Will Smith had grown weary of the show and wanted to launch his movie career while he was still
04:45a hot name.
04:46Pointing to declining ratings, he talked NBC into canceling The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
04:51in 1996.
04:52Well, then I guess my work here is done.
04:55Oh, but as a parting gift.
05:03Hey, yo.
05:04Smith went on to become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
05:09His co-stars, however, didn't have the brand to hit the ground running.
05:13It's been debated whether Smith's influence, even at the time, hurt their careers.
05:17In defense of the show's tainted finale, it was more satisfying than what the network
05:21originally had in mind.
05:23I love you, Uncle Phil, and I just don't want to lose you, you know, any of you.
05:29You're not going to lose us.
05:31You are my son, Will.
05:34End of story.
05:36Number six.
05:37Brought back from cancellation.
05:39Fans had to wonder what direction Fresh Prince would take after season four ended with
05:44Will moving back to Philly.
05:45Well, there was no direction planned.
05:47That ain't going to do nothing for my rep.
05:50Let's go right now, and I ain't taking no for an answer.
05:54You have no choice.
05:55It may be hard to believe now, but the show was slipping so much in the ratings after
05:59four years that NBC decided to cancel it.
06:02Their attempt at a natural conclusion only frustrated fans more.
06:06I ain't ready to leave yet, y'all.
06:07I'm still having fun.
06:09Fun?
06:09You've been ostracized since you got here.
06:12Oh, man, what you talking about?
06:12That chicken wheel thing?
06:14Come on, man, that ain't nothing.
06:15Guys be tripping like that all the time.
06:17You mean I was in a garbage can for nothing?
06:19Will Smith still believed in the show and pressed the network with many fan
06:23letters demanding another season.
06:25NBC ended up commissioning two.
06:27Season five opened with the rep for NBC actually dragging Will back to Bel Air, as if the network
06:33knew what fans wanted in the first place.
06:35Well, yeah, man, but you know, you know, my mom's up, man.
06:43Yo, Holmes, to Bel Air.
06:45Number five.
06:46That's acting.
06:47Or not?
06:48The heartbreaking episode, Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse, ends on Will Smith's decisive debut
06:54as a dramatic actor.
06:55It's all the more heartbreaking for how close to home it was.
06:59I'll be a better father than he ever was.
07:01And I sure as hell don't need him for that, because ain't a damn thing he could ever teach
07:04me about how to love my kids.
07:14How come he don't want me, man?
07:16Smith detailed a volatile relationship with his own father in his 2021 memoir, Will.
07:21He's never admitted that this directly influenced his character's complicated feelings about
07:25his absent dad, but Uncle Phil's hug was all too real.
07:29Smith wanted so badly to impress seasoned dramatist James Avery that he kept messing up
07:35his big monologue.
07:37Stage trained, Shakespearean beast, right?
07:42And I'm the little rapper from Philly under him, right?
07:46And I wanted him to think I was good so bad.
07:49I wanted him to be proud of me.
07:51As he grew furious in front of the studio audience, Avery told him to
07:55use that frustration.
07:57Smith nailed the scene.
07:59Of course, his moment of glory required some grueling motivation.
08:02And I fall into his arms at the end of the scene, and he's holding me, and he's holding
08:08me, and you know, the shot pans off, and he whispered in my ear, he said,
08:12Now that's acting.
08:14That's right.
08:15That's right.
08:16He's like, Now that's acting.
08:17And I was like, AHHHHH!
08:18Number four, Jenji Kohan.
08:21There are many horror stories about hostilities behind the scenes of The Fresh Prince.
08:25Several of them were told by Jenji Kohan, the creator of Weeds and Orange is the New Black,
08:31began her career as a writer on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
08:34That was a big show.
08:35It was a big show, a happy stage, a miserable upstairs.
08:39Really?
08:39Which means the writer's room?
08:41Yeah, it was a rough room.
08:42In 2017, she told The New Yorker that the production was rife with arguments and pranks.
08:47Kohan herself was allegedly given a racist, anti-Semitic, and misogynistic nickname in the writer's
08:53room.
08:54There was a lot of really messed up stuff, and having had that experience, I felt like
09:00I need to write my own stuff.
09:02She was still cautiously reserving the anecdotes for what she described as a brutal introduction
09:07to the industry.
09:09Though her allegations have not been supported by another party, they are consistent with
09:13the hectic process for the beloved sitcom.
09:16Who's responsible for this?
09:18Listen, I can explain.
09:19Will.
09:24Number three.
09:26Will Smith's Financial Obligations.
09:28After their 1989 Grammy win, a TV show seemed to be the natural progression for DJ Jazzy Jeff
09:35and The Fresh Prince.
09:36The truth is that the hip-hop duo didn't have much of a choice.
09:49Rampant overspending and shirking income taxes had put Will Smith a whopping $2.8 million in
09:56debt to the IRS.
09:58Then came along the rich uncle.
10:00Literally.
10:00I want to talk to you.
10:02About what?
10:03You know.
10:04From the minute you walked in that door, you've been a one-man wrecking crew, trying to tear
10:07down what's taken a lot of hard work to build up, skewering everything with your flippin'
10:11shenanigans!
10:12Smith begrudgingly took the lead role on a sitcom, with the IRS garnishing 70% of his
10:18wages for the first three years.
10:20Maybe The Fresh Prince wasn't built to handle music stardom.
10:23As it turns out, one desperate gig paved the way for his ascent as the king of summer
10:27movies.
10:28But before y'all get to beamin' me up, there's a couple things I want you to understand.
10:32First off, you chose me, so you recognize the skills.
10:36Number two, feuds with Janet Hubert.
10:38It's not much of a secret that Vivian Banks' first actress, Janet Hubert, had a nasty feud
10:44with Will Smith.
10:45It's believed that this tension was based on the two actors' difference in experience
10:49and behind-the-scenes influence.
10:51According to Alfonso Ribeiro, however, Hubert was hostile toward the whole cast and crew.
10:56And I wasn't unprofessional on the set.
11:00I just stopped talking to everybody because I didn't know who to trust, because I had
11:04been banished.
11:06And they said it was you who banished me.
11:10She made the decision to leave The Fresh Prince after season three, but reports of Smith's
11:14complaints stuck.
11:15Daphne Maxwell-Reed portrayed Vivian for the remainder of the series.
11:20Meanwhile, Hubert's reputation of being difficult to work with devastated her career.
11:24You know those words, calling a black woman difficult.
11:27In Hollywood, it's the kiss of death.
11:29It's the kiss of death, and it's hard enough being a dark-skinned black woman.
11:33She and Smith publicly made amends in HBO Max's 2020 reunion special, but their more wholesome
11:39relationship for three seasons is stained by career-killing drama.
11:44It was like heaven, except the angels was doing splits.
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12:07Number 1. Based on a true story.
12:11The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air didn't originate to capitalize on a family-friendly rapper.
12:16It was actually inspired by the youth of record executive Benny Medina, but there were no rich
12:21relatives to save him from East Los Angeles.
12:24When I came into contact with other black families in Beverly Hills, they actually were
12:30not very accepting of me being the outsider.
12:33After his mother's death and his jailbird father's disappearance, Medina bounced around
12:37foster homes and dealt drugs.
12:40He was eventually taken in by a wealthy friend in Beverly Hills, allowing him to find his own
12:44fortune in showbiz.
12:45This heavy underdog story would be sanitized and adapted by Warner Brothers Television with
12:50Quincy Jones' endorsement.
12:52Carlton, what the hell are you wearing?
12:55Yo, this?
12:57Carlton, you look like a pirate.
12:59Yo, stop fun.
13:00You know this gay is chill.
13:01Why are you talking like that?
13:04Yo, how you playing me, Prince?
13:07What?
13:07Yo, you dissing me.
13:09Come on, man, stop it.
13:10Sadly, Medina's legacy has been corrupted by sexual assault allegations.
13:15The Fresh Prince remains a feel-good classic, despite the behind-the-scenes baggage.
13:19Still, maybe Peacock's dramatic reboot, Bel-Air, isn't that jarring after all.
13:24This time we're trying to make you forget who you are and where you came from.
13:28Don't let it do that.
13:32What are some other production facts that may rattle the Fresh Prince's throne?
13:36Hold court in the comments.
13:38Good, thanks.
13:39Todo good.
13:39Good.
13:41Good.
13:47Good.
13:59Bye.