Will Smith responds to accusations of former Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star Janet Hubert
Janet Hubert and the Smiths have not been in good terms ever since they got to know each other. Janet starred with Will Smith in his hit sitcom 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air' and it was the start of their feud. Janet claimed that Will's comment about her being 'hard to work with' on the set made her lose several projects. At the same time, she recently took to social media and claimed that Will had something to do with regard to her son attempting suicide. Even though people were not pleased to see these accusations against Will, the actor finally decided to address the matter by breaking his silence. In an interview with 1Extra, a part of the BBC network, Will said that he admired her work.
“I loved what she brought to the Fresh Prince," he said, as reported by Celebrity Insider. The actor said, “as an artist, there are so many things that she does," he added. This is not the only time when Janet has taken to social media to let the world know that she is not a big fan of The Smiths. In 2016, she posted a video on Facebook in which she questioned Jada Pinkett Smith's Oscars boycott.
She accused Jada and Will of not helping her and other Fresh Prince castmates during salary negotiations. "I seem to remember at option time, coming to you and saying … 'With you, maybe we can get a little raise.' [We thought] your influence would help us greatly like they did on Friends." Instead, she said that he supposedly replied, "My deal is my deal, and y'alls deal is y'alls deal."
Janet left the show in 1993, after three seasons and in a radio interview later that year Will had some not so nice things to say about her. "I can say straight up that Janet Hubert wanted the show to be The Aunt Viv of Bel Air Show, because I know she is going to dog me in the press," the actor said at the time. "She has basically gone from a quarter of a million dollars a year to nothing. She's mad now but she's been mad all along. She said once, 'I've been in the business for 10 years and this snotty-nosed punk comes along and gets a show.'"
At the same time, she slammed the actress for asking African-American entertainers to avoid going to the Oscars. Will commented that at the time he felt there was "social and political slide that’s been happening throughout the country" and Hollywood should have reflected the inclusive nature of the United States, which it did not then. Claiming it isn’t supposed to represent the “regressive side", Will defended his and Jada's decision of not attending the event.
In 2009, Janet claims she tried to work things out with Will so he could take back the comments he made about her work ethics. "I went back to them in 2009 I and said, 'Please, I need you to clear my name," she said, as reported by US Weekly. They communicated via his manager at the time, James Lassiter. "I spoke to J.L. when my dad died and my brother died, and I begged them. I said, 'I have a family. I need you to tell the world that this stuff didn't happen,'" she recalled.
"And I was waiting in my heart, thinking somebody would come to me one day and help me, but they didn't. Because I had been trained as a young woman, you always have your dignity … but I realized that redemption was not gonna come unless I did it myself," she added. She also clarified she respected Jada as an artist had no beef with her.