NBC Sabotaged 'A Different World'? Jasmine Guy Calls Out Network for Controversial Decision
"A Different World" Star Jasmine Guy calls out NBC for a scheduling decision that she took "personally" on The Breakfast Club radio show.
Inspired by the original "The Cosby Show", the NBC series spin-off "A Different World" aired for six seasons from 1987 to 1993. The plot centered on student life in Hillman College, a fictional historically black college based in Virginia. Jasmine Guy portrayed Whitley Gilbert-Wayne, a mainstay throughout the whole series.
In a recent episode of The Breakfast Club radio show, Jasmine Guy appears alongside on-screen partner Kadeem Hardison from "A Different World". The two co-stars expressed their frustrations on the shifting schedules of the show, which at one point, was being aired at an 8:30 timeslot, which was in direct competition with the Fox series, "Martin".
The 60-year-old actress noted that "A Different World" and "Martin were both sitcoms that feature people of color as their main cast, which she claimed did their show a "disservice".
"I definitely took that personally. You ain't got but two Black shows... so you put us at the same time against each other?" Jasmine Guy ranted on The Breakfast Club show. "And what had we done to deserve this kind of disservice? You know, we're not competing with 'Martin'. They come on at 8:30, we come on at 8 - why did you move us? That was a detriment."
Jasmine Guy Calls NBC 'Racist'
Reflecting further on their struggles in the given air time of "A Different World", the "Vampire Diaries" actress expressed that the controversial scheduling led to competition between them and "Martin. Guy she felt that they were not respected by NBC and attributes the decision to racism.
"I feel like we have the same audience. And so what do white people do? Divide. You got two hit shows, let's put them on at the same time. They don't do that to their own shows." Jasmine Guy expressed. "So yes, I do feel like it was deliberate, I feel like it was racist, I know who was running NBC at the time, and I don't feel we were respected."
Despite the "detrimental" schedule that the show aired on, "A Different World" placed higher in terms of ratings compared to the original series, "The Cosby Show", during its 4th to 5th season. The series was also nominated for "Outstanding Technical Direction/Camera/Video For a Series" during the 1990 Primetime Emmy Awards.
