“Aunt Viv” claps back

Jada Pinkett Smith and the Academy Awards drama has been the talk of the new year, creating one of the first national debates of 2016. Since the beginning of the debate, several celebrities have shared their opinions on the subject, but one opinion is far more outspoken than the rest. In fact, this “opinion” comes from an old family “friend” of the Smiths, and I do use the term “friend” lightly. We all know Janet Hubert, who frequently goes by “Blacktress,” but is better known as “Aunt Viv” from the scripted series “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” Well it seems the “dark” Vivian Banks seems to be the best way to identify her. She was quite the fan favorite, and her unforeseen removal from the show was quite a shock considering that there was no real explanation in the series for her removal. However, this did not stop the drama and the backlash that occurred out of the series. According to Hubert, a little after the time of her placement on the show, there seemed to be a need of some extra money. She approached Will Smith, and asked if he would accompany her in asking the executives for a raise, in hopes that with the star of the show asking they would all receive a pay increase. Unfortunately for Hubert, she states that Will’s reply to her was “You have your contract and I have mine, I have nothing to do with that,” and with every bit of dignity she had, she quit. On the contrary, Will Smith and fellow actor Alfonso Ribeiro, who portrayed as Carlton Banks on the show, have both agreed on multiple occasions that Janet Hubert was a crazy, mean old lady. Several reports have been made by the cast of her having temper tantrums and loud outburst in the middle of sets, and personally if you ask me, it’s because she doesn’t like Will Smith. Which isn’t any form of a secret considering all of the names she calls Will when anyone brings him up in any interviews. Since Jada is the lucky girl who married Janet’s former costar, she gets just about the same respect as Will does.
Hubert takes to social media as soon as the comments from Jada started to surface the world. Janet says “First of all, Miss Thing does your man not have a mouth of his own with which to speak?” She continues, “The second thing, girlfriend, there’s a lot of s–t going on in the world that you all don’t seem to recognize. People are dying. Our boys are being shot left and right. People are starving. People are trying to pay bills. And you’re talking about some d–n actors and Oscars. It just ain’t that deep.”
Of course Janet is upset but she brings a valid point that everyone wanted to know, why would she speak up now, is it just because of Will not being nominated in the new movie “Concussion?” YES, of course it is.
I personally do not disagree with both parties, but I do feel as a whole we need to be able to celebrate black talent for what it is, and not because of the awards they may receive. This should motivate all black actors and actresses to want to do more than what is expected, and get back to what actually matters.