Aunt Viv Airs Out Will Smith!
“There’s a machine and it was designed to make him a superstar. And that machine was designed to steamroll over anybody who got in the way. I was simply a body…” –Janet Hubert
WARNING: It is going to be hard, even painful, for many people to fathom that Will Smith – an actor who has achieved the greatest level of fame, admiration, and success imaginable – may have at one time in his evolution, been a complete a-hole.
Now, nearly two decades since NBC’s ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ took the then 22-year-old rapper from his radio-friendly songs long enough to start his walk on the road to stardom, former “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” cast member, Janet Hubert-Whitten, aka “Vivian Banks” aka “The first Aunt Viv’” has broken her silence and authored the book “Perfection Is Not A Sitcom Mom.”
In an emotional exclusive interview with EUR’s Lee Bailey, Hubert (no longer Whitten) sounds more hurt than bitter as she paints a disturbing and unrecognizable picture of the superstar, and although she admits she doesn’t know him now, she speaks candidly about the man she knew then.
Without so much as a stutter, Hubert, who at times seems to be near tears, uses the one-hour, eight minutes and fifteen seconds telephone interview to reveal vivid details of her claims against Smith; which include verbal and mental abuse on the set, hypocrisy, excessive egoism, blatant resentment, the insensitive spewing of ‘your mama’s so black’ jokes, and ultimately, public slander – which Hubert says kept her from getting projects green-lighted and has banned her from work in the field she used to love.
“He had a lot of power. He had full power on that set! Maybe not the first season, but by the second, third season he was basically running it,” she states. The words escaping her mouth so fast—with no second-guessing herself–it’s as if she is in a time warp. “He knew what everybody was making because even on that V103 interview he said (mimics Smith using gangsta voice) ‘She made two hundred fifty thousand – a quarter million dollars a year. Now she ain’t makin’ nothin’!’”
The interview Hubert refers to was one of the first, she claims, Smith gave following her removal from the show “…I dug out the old tape…I call it … ‘Vicious V103’ in Atlanta. When it all went down he was in Atlanta, and he was with the DJ’s at V103 and he referred to me as a ‘Drive-by.’ When he had finished his session of lies and slander (gangsta voice) he said, ‘Well you know, I feel like this is like comic timing you know what I’m sayin’? It’s kind of like a drive-by; we should move on, you know what I’m sayin?”
With the show still in reruns, fans are constantly reminded of the abrupt departure of Janet Hubert’s “Aunt Viv” – and those who watched the show when it originally aired were arguably confused behind the networks’ decision to remain mute and just slip Daphne Maxwell-Reed into the role one day; Fine actor that she is, the difference between her “Aunt Viv” and Hubert’s was not a subtle one. But the decision to gloss over the cast change was, according to Hubert, Smith’s handy work: ‘We’re going to just act like nothing happened,’ she says, mimicking him. Now, with her new book due out in 2010, he’ll have to eat those words.
“Here’s what happened…Back when the re-negotiations came up, the network (NBC) offered me 10 weeks of work and they said ‘you cannot work anywhere else,” Hubert tells Lee Bailey, adding that the show was set to film 27 episodes [5 more than a usual TV contract] – yet cut her out of 15 of them. “So I was…not to work anywhere else – except 2 guest starring roles.”
As is the usual case with re-negotiations, there is a back and forth dance between the network and the talent. Hubert made it known to NBC that she would be unable to make a living with the offer they placed on the table, so she declined, expecting them to return with something better. You know? NEGOTIATE.
They never came back.
Want to know the rest of the story? Click here to find out what happened between Will and Janet!
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Comments (21)
OH WELL THE PAST IS THE PAST. HELL WE WILL NEVER NO THE TRUTH OF WHAT REALLY HAPPEN. ALL I KNOW IS THAT MAN IS A REAL GOOD ACTOR, HELL I EVEN LIKE MOST OF HIS SONGS. I GIVE HIM MUCH RESPECT. BUT THAT SHYT ABOUT THAT RADIO INTERVIEW, HE WAS JUST EXPRESSING HIS SELF LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE WOULD. LEAVE THAT DAM MAN ALONE. BUT WHAT IM PISSED OFF ABOUT, SHE IS STILL STUCK ON THE PAST, INSTEAD OF MAKING A CAREER FOR HERSELF. HELL MOVE ON, ITS DONE WITH. AND THAT STUPID “SHANGO24″ GET A LIFE AND GO BACK TO SCHOOL SO THEY CAN HELP U MAKE SENSE OF WHAT U TRYIN 2 SAY, AND SPELL.
Shango24 or whateva your name is. You gotta be the dumbest mufo on this s**t. Who the f**k is you to come on here and call someone you know nothing about a homo. If you looking for a homo, check the mirror. I don’t ever make comments on this s**t becuz I could really careless about the gossip, but after reading your lousy post I had to respond. Take your hating ass back to school. I’m a light skin African american. And without knowing WTF you were talking about you offended a lot of people with your word throw up. Next time when you want to go off at the lip at least know what the f**k you talking about. And speaking on homo’s you the one who sound like u on the down low. Stop hating f****t!!!!
Shango24 you are an ignorant piece of crap. You might not like Will, but be real, he ain’t GAY, come on, is that the best you could come up with? Ans SugarSweetums, so what if will was the star, Aunt Viv had been in the industry before this boy even came out of a womb, so she deserves respect, do you people honestly think that will Never acted an ass, or stepped on peoples toes?
shango24 are you having self esteem issues? feeling ugly? so talking about a famous person who has more money then you will ever see makes you feel better? aww good for you!!
shango24 is a hater. why would you think will is gay or a halfbreed. you are a stupid muh f**ka
“SHANGO24″ r u retarded?. Who in the hell are you calling a half breed? Will smith? I thought Will smith’s mother and father were black negroes. In other words slave blooded negroes. If you are a freaking kus**te. You have no right in calling any slave blooded black man or woman a half breed. If I could I would come through your monitor and strangle you for my fore fathers you demon piece of crap. You uneducated hypocritical not knowing what you are talking about retard. Dont make anymore racist comments on Black planet devil ..ok Or I will strangle you for my forefathers.. u heard!!! u devil!!
It was called The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, not Aunt Viv of Bel-Air. Anyway, I heard she was making unwanted advances at Will and she didn’t know her place on the show. She wanted more (bigger) parts. Anyway, Will is an upstanding man who has gone on to greater things and she ain’t shining nowhere anymore. Who cares anyway, we’ll still watch the re-runs every now and again.
The Fresh Prince of Bellaire made the studio a lot of money because of Smith’s fan base. The public was not tuning in each week to watch the Aunty Viv show. Without Smith there would have been no show and therefore no work for Aunt Viv. I am sorry she lost her role, however the entertainment industry demands that people constantly re-invent themselves and sophisticated black mother roles are virtually non-existent. Noticeably, there have been few shows where black women, older or younger, are portrayed elegant characters. We have women like Beyounce, Lil Kim and New York cashing in as the representative “talent” of black women of the 2000’s. Until those ideas change, the best among us will be unable to work in those starring roles. I must agree with the other writers. I stopped watching the show soon after she left. The switch didn’t set well with me either.
also blaming it on him being young is no excuse because there are good young people and bad young people and will smith was and is a horrible person who is a hollywood top homosexual
f**k that half breed
i know half breeds mulatto americans commenting on this page prove my point that light skin people aka half breeds aka mulatto americans wish to do there darker skin sisters and brothers hard
funny know one thought about the pain she must of felt being the only dark skin perosn on set having your mama so black jokes sent at her
amazing
this is why i dont date mix women at none of that they aint nothing but troubkle
not only is will smith apart of the notorious down low homosexual hollywood and loves men and women and giving men orla sex especially young new actors but he loves to get them from the behind and after all those years of him getting f**ked by exceutives and quincy jones one has to wonder if this is the reason he beacme a swinging homosexual
will smith is a dispicable creature and when good afrakan men in holly wod dont flex there muscle in untiy against half breeds like will smith then afrakan nubian queens like viv miss out
in hollywood the homosexuals will punk u and put u in a dress and if u refuse will lock you completly out of work
the european american and euroepean jew control everything in hollywood because afrakans fail to work together i mean could u really go on strike when most of the brothers are homosexuals????
the day is long over do for us rela brothers to get where will smith is and make some serious changes
i much rather help nollywood in afraka build then be punked and feel like i have no options by crazed euro and afrakan amerikan homosexual musik producers like dr dre or homoses like will smith
what a shame
the half breed will smith made ur mama is so black jokes and hence all his kids are half breeds like him
let me give a shout out
denzell im happy you got an afrakan woman and are not a homosexual
morgan freean you boot licking dicksucking uncle tom are a pedophile
and to all you sorry ars n****rs making excuses for this half breed treeating our nubian queen wrong shoutl be shot point blank
nicca i love my dark women f**k will the bisexual swinging half breed
him and tyle rperry both f****ts
The quality of the show went downhill with the replacement. In fact I stopped watching it because I no longer found it to my liking. I did wonder why the switch was made.
Will was a lot younger and new to all this fame. I am sure he made a few mistakes. In reading this though. It says she was expecting to negotiate with NBC not Will. Knowing Will, I am sure he is soon to offer her an apology if her alligations are true. I understand her frustration. It would be hard for anyone to go from 250 thousand to 0. Removing her the way they did was unfair to the fans. Will can simply repay her by offering her a leading role in his next film. Maybe his mom. I am sure that will square things.
From the Story I have just read its really not good for anyone to jump into conlustions as to what Will is or what he is not we should listen to his own part before we jump into conlusions, and it was just Business they made her an offer that she was not okay with why then will she put it on Will, I think she does not like him in the first place and she stated it that she does not like Rappers so its her problem.
I believe “AUNT VIV” totally. She was a FAR superior actress than maxwell-reid, and it’s f**ked up that Will did that, and also the networks for allowing it. To all these b***hes taking Will’s side, you obviously were too young to remember that radio interview, and too dumb to see the truth. He will have to answer one day. I will definitely by her book, and not support any of will’s projects anymore.
Everybody was young once & made mistakes. He probably was a real a-hole and he probably learned his lesson as he grew up. Maybe his lesson is waiting for him down the road, who knows? I’m glad to hear what happened and I did miss her from the show. Hating on Will? Not if it’s the truth.
Wow she hating on will smith
and for u idiots info when she left the show or got fired she sprayed his arse than also….also that light skinned bytch that replaced her was a terrible as actress
That’s f**ked up if he actually did that. And as a fan of that show back in the day I did throw me off when she was gone all of the sudden. Mabye he didn’t like dark skinned women, you know light skin was in then lol, and they replace the dark skinned lady with a light skinned one. Hmmmmm… mabye he did throw a f**king tantrum, what a biyach lol.
aint nobody see her in a minute…now she going to come back making it seem like people been doing her wrong..
come on now..find a job and get over it. it’s been a while. he was a kid.
She need to sit her simple ass down somewhere obviously she is the only one that saw it that and she had a negative attitude on the show which is why she was fired! Don’t wait 90 yrs now to come out and have some dumb s**t to say because at the end of the day according to the Forbes he is still one the highest paid actors. Shut up, sit down and find something else to talk about.
she hatin on Will Smith trying to get paid………