‘I feel like it’s racist’: Jasmine Guy reveals why she thinks ‘Another World’ ended and how the network made her compete with ‘Martin’
Jasmine guy and Kadeem Hardison are in high gear to celebrate the 35th anniversary of A Different World. Guy portrayed the beautiful and snooty Whitley Gilbert, a student at the fictional HBCU Hillman College, where she meets and falls in love with Hardison’s character, Dwayne Wayne. The duo appeared at The Breakfast Club on Wednesday, September 21, where they discussed why the hit show ended after six seasons from 1987 to 1993.
Charlamagne Tha God jumps right into the show’s impact discussion and dives deep into questions about the show’s ending. At the 32:27 mark, he asked if there was a “bigger” agenda for the “abrupt end” of popular black sitcoms with positive black imagery in the 1990s.
“It just seems so,” Hardison said. “But when it goes like a duck … it quacks like a duck.” He said, “I don’t have any evidence of that or the optics.”
Guy then chimed in and shared her thoughts on NBC changing the slot that “A Different World” aired during its final season on television. She claims the network set up the show to “compete” with other popular series at the time.
“Why would you change our time slot? And why would you set us up against ‘Martin’?” she said. “I definitely took that personally. You only have two Black shows on the network, so are you pitting us against each other at the same time?”
The actress continued, “What have we done to deserve this kind of disservice? You know we don’t compete with “Martin”. We arrive at 8:30am [p.m.]they come at 8 [p.m.]. why did you misplace us That was… downside.”
Charlamagne asked if the change was due to The Cosby Show ending in 1992. However, Guy feels that “A Different World” wasn’t “strong enough” to compete against “Martin,” who was enjoying mainstream success at the time. The show averaged a loyal following of 11 million viewers in its first season.
“I feel like we have the same audience, and what are the white people doing – sharing. You have two successful shows. They don’t do that with their own shows,” said the 60-year-old. “Well, yes, I have a feeling it was intentional. I have a feeling it was racist. I know who was running NBC at the time and I don’t feel like we were respected.”
According to The Guardian, “Martin” averaged 11 million viewers in its first season.
Guy said the network confirmed the show’s second spot between “Cheers” at number three and “The Cosby Show” at the top spot. She recalls feeling uncomfortable when asked about it during a late night talk show appearance with another actress Joan Rivers and host Dennis Mueller.
“Sometimes I didn’t know how to answer that,” she admitted. “Dennis even said to me, ‘That was a terrible lead. Like yeah, you insulted me, and you act like I’m the s–. Which one am I?
https://atlantablackstar.com/2022/09/22/i-feel-like-it-was-racist-jasmine-guy-reveals-why-she-believes-a-different-world-ended-and-how-the-network-made-them-compete-with-martin/ ‘I feel like it’s racist’: Jasmine Guy reveals why she thinks ‘Another World’ ended and how the network made her compete with ‘Martin’
