Kathy Griffin has claimed that Will Smith ignored her after she landed a guest role in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1990.
The comedian, who has previously criticised Smith for slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars, made the fresh claims about Smith during Tuesday’s (2 April) episode of her Talk Your Head Off podcast.
The 64-year-old explained that she had landed a guest role on the sitcom before it had even premiered and when Smith was still known for his rap career - which he recently relaunched.
“This was the first big gig I had,” Griffin said, adding that Smith “did not talk to me until show day” and that “he ignored me all week, because he’s launching a gigantic show.”
Continuing she said: “When I finally got to talk to him on shooting day, which was Friday, I said, ‘What would you like me to call you, Fresh Prince or Will?’ And he said, ‘You can call me Will.’”
“So I did, and I was, you know, nervous around him, because I’d seen all his videos, and Jazzy Jeff was there for a day, which was great, and the live audience went crazy when they saw Jazzy Jeff. He may have even DJ’d, if I recall correctly.”
Griffin did say that Smith eventually warmed to her when it came to shooting the episode. “I can’t imagine the pressure he had on. “But I do remember that Friday night when the audience was there and it was time to actually roll tape, he really took his time to kind of get to know me a little bit. And he was asking about me and helping me relax. I didn’t tell him I was nervous, but I think he could tell that I hadn’t done a show this big before.”
Griffin also said that Public Enemy rapper Flavor Flav warmed up the studio audience. “So, it was like a party. And I had been to a couple TV tapings of friends of mine that got to be guest stars, and I had never seen anything like this. And so, I remember looking around and being like, ‘Wow, this is how African American shows do it. This is amazing. It’s like a party in here.’”
Following Smith’s infamous slap of Chris Rock, Griffin expressed concerns that his actions would make life more dangerous for people in her profession. “Let me tell you something, it’s a very bad practice to walk up on stage and physically assault a comedian,” she wrote on Twitter. “Now we all have to worry about who wants to be the next Will Smith in comedy clubs and theatres.”
