Janet Hubert, who originally played Aunt Viv on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, has been on a roll this morning, calling out Will Smith for his Oscars performance and more. The more entails a time when Will Smith was allegedly difficult to work with on The Fresh Prince and even screwed his fellow co-stars on their contracts, according to the woman who played Aunt Viv. Here’s what she had to say in a recent Facebook post:
It’s very suspect to me. I seem to recall 26 maybe seven years ago, whatever it was. I seem to remember at option time coming to you and saying, ‘You know, Will, you’re the star of the show, why don’t we all get together with you and maybe we could get a little raise. Maybe the network—since the show is such a hit—and you being the star of the show, you’re influence would help us greatly, like they did on Friends, like white shows do. Remember that?
She also had some intense things to say about the rest of the contract deal, stating that Will Smith was not very nice to her on the set of The Fresh Prince, which eventually propelled him to stardom--something that did not happen for a lot of the other actors involved with the show. Here’s what she had to say as part of her Facebook video.
And your response to me was, 'My deal is my deal and y’alls deal is y’alls deal.' Well karma must be a bitch.
Hubert played Aunt Viv on The Fresh Prince for three seasons between 1990 and 1993. After the 1993 season, she was replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid, who played the same character on the show. Rumor has it that Will Smith and Janet Hubert clashed on the set of the hit comedy when it was being filmed in the early nineties. Then, when contract renegotiations came around, Hubert has said in the pat that she was asked not to take any outside work by NBC, which would have supplemented her income. She’s spoken out about both the contract dispute and her problems with Will Smith before. Regardless, in this video, she’s certainly coming out swinging. You can check it out in full, below.
The Smiths.Posted by Blacktress Janet Hubert on Monday, January 18, 2016
The karma she is referring to is that fact that Will Smith’s career has seemingly been on a downswing in recent years. After Earth was widely criticized, as was Winter’s Tale and Focus didn’t really get the, err, focus that a lot of Will Smith’s former movies have gotten (despite accounts indicating it's a pretty good movie). More recently, his wife spoke out about Will Smith getting snubbed for Concussion at the Oscars, although he did get a Golden Globes nod. Don’t worry, Janet Hubert has thoughts about that, too.
Since we weren’t on the set in the early nineties, it’s hard to tell how much of Will Smith and Janet Hubert not getting along was a direct result of her antics or a direct result of his. Clearly, the two are not on the same page about their time on the popular TV series, and Hubert has even stated a real reunion will never happen.
At least there is always that potential Fresh Prince reboot/spinoff featuring new characters to look forward to?
