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Janet Hubert Blasts Will Smith: Former 'Fresh Prince' Aunt Goes Off, Calls Smith An 'As*hole

First Posted: 12/27/11 08:31 AM ET Updated: 12/27/11 11:37 AM ET

Fresh Prince Will Vivian

Count Janet Hubert, the first Vivian Banks, out of any heartwarming "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" reunion.

Last week, some of the major players from the early 90s Will Smith show got together at a charity event, leading to speculation that maybe, just maybe, fans would be treated to an on-air reunion. Smith even posted a photo of their get together on Facebook, writing "Got the Holiday season started right with a 'Fresh Prince of Bel Air' reunion...there's nothin' like spending Holidays with fam!"

Hubert, who played Will's aunt Vivian on the show, was noticeably absent, and it wasn't a clash of schedules.

"There will never be a reunion ... as I will never do anything with an as*hole like Will Smith," the actress told TMZ this weekend. "He is still an egomaniac and has not grown up. This constant reunion thing will never ever happen in my lifetime unless there is an apology, which he doesn't know the word."

Hubert was replaced on the show by Daphne Reid following the 1993 season when her contract ran up and she could not reach a deal with NBC. As she wrote in her 2010 memoir, she was only scheduled to work for ten weeks during the following season's production and was restricted by contract from other TV appearances, and could not make a living under those terms.

During the highly publicized fallout in 1993, Smith blasted Hubert for her attitude.

"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," he told an Atlanta radio station. "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.' No matter what, to her I'm just the AntiChrist."

As she told BVonBooks at the time (the site is now part of HuffPost's Black Voices), "My departure was planned for a long time... There will never be a reunion of the 'Fresh Prince.' Will Smith and Alfonso [Ribiero, who played Carlton Banks] destroyed a 20-year-career with untruths. I got slammed. Will apologized later in an 'Essence Magazine' article, but it still lingers. It's still there."

In an interview last year with BlackAmericaWeb, Hubert said that Smith was abusive and arrogant and made racial jokes to the audience.

"I was a dark-skinned, African-American mother, and Will used to tell the you're-so-black jokes to the audience before the show, and at one point, I came out and stopped him, and the audience went 'Woooo,'" she remembered. "He didn't understand how unbelievably disrespectful that was to women like me... 'Yo mama's so black, when she looks at her shoes, she thinks she's looking in the mirror. Ha, ha!'"

For more, click over to TMZ.

Related on HuffPost:

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Count Janet Hubert, the first Vivian Banks, out of any heartwarming "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" reunion. Last week, some of the major players from the early 90s Will Smith show got together at a char...
Count Janet Hubert, the first Vivian Banks, out of any heartwarming "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" reunion. Last week, some of the major players from the early 90s Will Smith show got together at a char...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
jsgaetano
Semper Fidelis Tyrannosaurus!
2 minutes ago( 4:22 PM)
Why would she be needed for a reunion? She wasn't even close to being one of the most popular characters on the show. This is like if that woman who was dating Andy Griffith said she was going to torpedo a reunion of the Andy Griffith show.
6 minutes ago( 4:18 PM)
This was like, what, 20 years ago? She needs to let go of the past and move on. Or at least ACT like it...she's supposed to be an actress, right?
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orbo
Money is a guy’s best friend!
7 minutes ago( 4:17 PM)
Everyone knows that Will Smith is a DIVA!
10 minutes ago( 4:14 PM)
I don't know what went on behind the scenes and don't have any skin in this game. That being said, if a light skinned dude like Will Smith was making jokes about dark skinned folks in front of a live audience, somebody needed to check him. That is just wrong. It's not funny. I've got people in my family who obsess over their dark skin and would like nothing more than to be light skinned. This is the sort of stuff you don't make jokes about.
12 minutes ago( 4:11 PM)
I think it is a feud that is stemmed from lack of ethics.Smi­th is a classy and amazing actor of such films like "Ali" or "Independe­nce Day". If I am correct,is­n't it "his show" ? She is booted out and angry about her "pink slip".
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
jsgaetano
Semper Fidelis Tyrannosaurus!
2 seconds ago( 4:24 PM)
Yeah, it seems kind of funny she's talking like she has the power to torpedo any reunion show.
15 minutes ago( 4:08 PM)
I agree with Ms. Hubert, what dark-skine­d original--­authentic african american woman want to be associated with a fake, mongral, yellow-ski­ned, tainted-bl­ood, fool like Mr. Smith making those kinds of ignorant jokes. That type of behavior has and will continue to divide a race, and that is a shame because there is strength in numbers. In case Mr. Smith and other have not taken notice over the years, must dark-skin beautiful black women are noticeably absent, because they understand and refuse to subject themselves to the type of idiot "Slave Mentality.­"
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17 minutes ago( 4:07 PM)
I ran into this lady a while back. She demanded to know if I wanted "fries with that?" in a very condescend­ing tone. I have been boycotting Crazy Franks Hamburger Emporium ever since that day.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Ergon
Man From Atlan
21 minutes ago( 4:02 PM)
I've enjoyed Will Smith's movies, and his Ali was really good. Why the lady feels the need to blame him for her lack of a career I do not know.
32 minutes ago( 3:51 PM)
When you bite the hand that feeds you, you run the risk of not getting fed again! Simple
33 minutes ago( 3:51 PM)
That lady has a stiff neck
36 minutes ago( 3:47 PM)
I'm not a fan of Will Smith's and I thought his show was corny and predictabl­e on so many levels. But that being said I respect his work ethic and his ability to take his singing and acting talent to the next level as a performer. Sometimes a person is the right person at the right time and when Hollywood chooses you, you go with it as far as you can so you can do your art. When Hollywood chose Lena Horne she initially didn't want to go. Her feeling was that there were other women who were much prettier and more talented. Count Bassie insisted her that she had to go because "they chose you Lena". It probably was a hard pill to swallow for Ms Huburt to witness the rise of Will Smith under the circumstan­ces. But in the case of Will Smith, Hollywood has spoken and the rest is history and history in the making. I wish Ms Huburt luck with her art in the future.
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Iwpach
What did I step in this time?
39 minutes ago( 3:45 PM)
She'd better watch out sassing Will or Xenu will get her...
42 minutes ago( 3:41 PM)
Wow Lady please move on, its been 20years..S­haking my head
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Zacky Ahmed
Astro-physics, Science, Politics
44 minutes ago( 3:40 PM)
"There will never be a reunion ... as I will never do anything with an as*hole like Will Smith," the actress told TMZ this weekend. "

She just proved Will Smith´s point
she still thinks is 'The Aunt Viv of Bel Air Show' ?
did she forget that she was replaced already at that time ?
45 minutes ago( 3:39 PM)
Would you like some cheese with your whine?
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SA Texas 2
No Escape For Millionaire Tax Dodgers
32 minutes ago( 3:52 PM)
LOL :)