Family Matters Star Recalls When Jaleel White Wanted To Fight Her

Jo Marie Payton has detailed how her Family Matters co-star Jaleel White once wanted to “physically fight” her on set. TGIF sitcoms on ABC were a television staple during the 1990s for many households. Some of the decade’s most memorably shows like Full House, Boy Meets World, and Family Matters were included in the primetime lineup. Family Matters aired for nine seasons before concluding in 1998.
The show focused on the daily life and struggles of the Winslow family and their quirky next door neighbor Steve Urkel, played by White. The character was initially only written as a side character, but Family Matters audiences were so drawn to Urkel that he stole the show.

Urkel served as both a beloved friend and irksome nuisance to the Winslows, with the contrasting personalities leading to an entertaining chemistry amongst the group. Ironically, the family’s matriarch Harriette Winslow, portrayed by Payton, generally sided with Urkel’s character in the show. Last year, White recounted some initial conflict between himself and his older co-stars. However, though the actor says the Family Matters cast later moved past the incident and became “like family,” revelations from Payton seem to prove that this was not always the case.
It has been reported that multiple Family Matters cast members had issues with White throughout the show’s production, and now Payton has weighed in with her own experience. In an interview with ET, Payton revealed that White wanted to “physically fight” her while filming the season 9 episode, “Original Gangsta Dawg.” The actor alleged that White was “kicking and screaming” after her response. Read Payton’s comments below.

“There was one time he actually wanted to physically fight me … [There was a scene where] I said we can’t do that, standards and practices will not let that pass, it’s not gonna happen. He wanted to do it anyway…He was so mad, he started kicking and screaming and stuff … He said something about, ‘She must want to melee.’ I said, ‘What’s a melee?’ He said, ‘a fight.’ I turned around — if he wanna fight, I would. Darius [McCrary] grabbed me. I was gonna whip his behind.”

The incident apparently originated when White was unhappy about not getting to portray Urkel’s “gangster” cousin, OGD, in the way he wanted. In the same interview, Payton went on to explain that White’s quick rise to stardom may have resulted in problematic on-set behaviour. However, the actor explained that, years later, she sees the young White as “just a kid” at the time, and doesn’t give him “all the credit” for this behaviour. According to Payton, the Family Matters actor was allowed by the adults around him to “run wild … do whatever he wanted … hurt people’s feelings and all that.”
In the original sitcom, White’s Urkel was exceptionally annoying, yet lovable. Given this, it will likely be disappointing to many to hear that White’s behind-the-scenes behavior was sometimes problematic, and that he reportedly expressed a poor attitude. However, Payton also clearly has very fond memories of working on Family Matters, expressing her love and appreciation for the sitcom’s crew and suggesting her “issue” was limited to certain cast and crew members, who she did not specify. With so many 90s sitcom reboots in the works in recent months, perhaps a Family Matters reboot could be another coming to screens in some capacity soon.