Red Table Talk is marking the 35th anniversary of the premiere of The Cosby Show spin-off A Different World by hosting a special tribute with many of the old cast.
In an exclusive clip ahead of the airing of the episode, Jasmine Guy, who starred as Whitley Marion Gilbert, revealed she quit the show and gave her ‘two-week notice’ after witnessing producers disrespect the cast, including Lisa Bonet and Sinbad.
‘I didn’t like the way they were treating the cast,’ she explained, adding, ‘I went in there and I said, “Thank you so much for this opportunity. I’ve learned so much.”‘
For the special episode of Red Table Talk, co-host Jada Pinkett Smith (Lena James) was reunited with her A Different World co-stars Kadeem Hardison (Dwayne Cleofis Wayne), Dawnn Lewis (Jaleesa Vinson-Taylor), Darryl M. Bell (Ronald ‘Ron’ Marlon Johnson), Charnele Brown (Kimberly Reese), Cree Summer (Winifred ‘Freddie’ Brooks), Glynn Turman (Colonel Bradford Taylor), Ajai Sanders (Gina Deveaux), Karen Malina White (Charmaine Tyesha Brown), as well as show producer Debbie Allen.
‘And they were probably like, ‘Ok, well. Did something happen to you?’ I said, ‘Well you know, I feel like Lisa Bonet is disrespected in front of the audience,'” she recalled.
‘[They said] “Well has it ever happened to you?” I said, “If it happens to her, it happens to me,” she continued. “You are disrespecting the cast. You are disrespecting Sinbad. It doesn’t have to happen to me. I felt like it was happening to me.’
‘That first season, it was wack and I didn’t like the way they treated Lisa Bonet,’ she shared, before revealing that she witnessed producers get in Bonet’s face and demand her to ‘just do it, just say it,’ as they pointed at her.
‘You know, I’m like, “That’s a sweet girl because you’re not getting all up in my face like that,” she continued. ‘And we’ve dealt with b****es… as far as choreographers and directors or what not… I didn’t interfere onset, but I was like, “Oh no, you not treating her like that.” She had to hire security!’
Initially, the series centered on Bonet’s character Denise Huxtable and the life of students at Hillman College, a fictional historically Black college.
But the actress would end up leaving the show before the start of season two, and thus, the series switched its focus to Guy’s Southern belle character Whitley and math whiz Dwayne Cleophus Wayne (Hardison).
During the summer of 1988, Bonet announced that she and husband Lenny Kravitz were expecting their first child together.
Allen, who was brought in as a chief creative force to help revamp the show, was said to be in favor of having a young pregnant student in the show, but series creator Bill Cosby shot down the idea of having her character be pregnant in the show.
It was felt that viewers would not accept Denise as an unwed mother, having grown to know her as a ‘good girl’ after four seasons of The Cosby Show. So it was decided that Denise would drop out of Hillman, return home to her family, and eventually travel to Africa throughout the fifth season of The Cosby Show.
In the end, the fine print in her contract meant Guy couldn’t just leave the show. She went on to appear in every episode of the show’s six season run, writing three of those episodes and directing one, according to Finurah.
During the Red Table Talk reunion, Guy went on to dish about how she felt network executives disrespected the cast again by moving the airtime of A Different World to compete with Martin, which was broadcast on Fox at the time.
‘I definitely took that personally. You ain’t got but two Black shows… so you put us at the same time against each other?’ the Boston, Massachusetts native explained.
Guy went on to appear in every episode of the show, writing three of those episodes and directing one.
