If you grew up watching “The Cosby Show,” you remember how the series pioneered Black representation on TV with its relatable storylines and most of all, its characters. We all adored patriarch Cliff Huxtable, mom Clair and their bevy of siblings and friends...but not every cast member sees their character as we do.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played Theodore Huxtable, appeared on the “Hot & Bothered with Melyssa Ford” podcast in a candid interview published Friday (May 23). In a clip, he mentioned how his wife “got on him” for trying to “distance himself from Theo,” the only son out of the TV family’s four children, “as if Theo was a bad thing.”
“I’ve always wanted it to be separate... and there’s this narrative that I hate being called Theo...” he continued, before admitting he really doesn’t “like being called Theo, so it’s not a narrative.” Ford recalled how folks wanted Warner to “sign autographs as Theo, but you’re like, ‘I’m Malcolm.’” Warner added: “I’m always gonna be Malcolm much longer than Theo. Although to some people I’ll be Theo forever, and I can’t help that.”
“Now I try to be mindful of the misinterpretation that I don’t like Theo. Theo was very good to me. And that show and that role is timeless, and I’m very proud of that role,” he added. “Part of the distancing for me is probably not wanting to see how much of Malcolm is in Theo... I remember doing the show and I always felt like Theo was corny and I wanted Theo to be cooler.” When Ford asked if he thought Theo was corny “because he had two parents and a loving household,” Warner answered: “This is what happens when you put too much attention on the negative than the positive.”
“Everyone loved Theo... but I was f*****g with the people who called Theo corny. Somebody called me, ‘America’s favorite white Black boy,’ and I was like 15,” he continued. Ford said that title should go to Carlton Banks from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” but Warner replied how his character was pre-Carlton. “And I was 15. Like dude said that, and it hurt me... That’s the trauma,” he admitted. “That’s cultural trauma. But growing up and having all of these people love Theo and all these girls love me because I was on TV, [instead] I’m paying attention to the motherf****rs who’s calling me corny.”
Warner played Theo throughout the series’ eight seasons. The show, which originally aired on NBC from September 20, 1984, to April 30, 1992, focused on the Huxtables, an upper middle-class Black-American family living in Brooklyn. The series was based on Bill Cosby’s comedy routines, which were based on his family life. TV Guide called “The Cosby Show” “TV’s biggest hit in the 1980s,” saying it “almost single-handedly revived the sitcom genre and NBC’s ratings fortunes.” The outlet also ranked it No. 28 on their list of 50 Greatest Shows.
You’ll be hard pressed to find reruns of “The Cosby Show” these days: In 2014, the series was pulled from several networks after Bill Cosby’s sexual assault scandal.