Debbie Allen Recalls How Whoopi Goldberg Became the ‘Secret Weapon’ on A Different World amid AIDS Epidemic

Debbie Allen says they were able to make a difference in spreading the message of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the early 90s — and it was all thanks to Whoopi Goldberg.

The Fame actress, 74, who appeared with her A Different World cast members on The View, recalled the obstacles she and the show writers went through to air their infamous episode spotlighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

“I remember especially the degree of difficulty of doing a show about AIDS, and Whoopi Goldberg was our secret weapon,” Allen shared. “She was someone that I knew; we were friends. We all knew that she was gonna win that Oscar that year.”

Allen explained that the show had been the “first network television show” to address the epidemic after Magic Johnson first announced that he was HIV positive. She said that she and the show’s lead writer and producer Susan Fales-Hill “put their heads together” on how to introduce the topic into the show for general audiences.
“I said we gotta get a big gun to make this happen,” she shared. “And Whoopi, I called her, and the actress said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’ She was down. And it made it possible to save millions of lives, that you said yes…”

“That’s the truth because the advertisers were pulling out,” she added, to which Goldberg responded, “I remember that.”

Allen noted that they “had never had to show a script to an advertiser” before that episode, but that it ended up becoming their “highest-rated episode that year.”
The View host went on to discuss the importance of the sitcom — which ran from 1987-1993 and also starred Lisa Bonet, Jasmine Guy, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Kadeem Hardison, Darryl M. Bell and Tisha Campbell. The show had been a spin-off of The Cosby Show and followed Bonet’s character as she entered Hillman College in Virginia.

“I want to point out something because the thing that no one has said yet that I want to make sure that I point out is that yeah folks needed a job, but this was also a unique opportunity… because you only saw one show full of characters who were brown about a school, a college, someplace you didn’t see us on television,” Goldberg said.

She jokingly added, “And anytime Debbie asked me to do something, I just say, ‘Yes.’ ”

The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC. A Different World is streaming on Max.