NCS
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Some superstar deaths hit the Black community in a different way.
Such is the case with the passing of Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who died Sunday at age 54 in a drowning accident in Costa Rica, the place he was on trip together with his household.
Much like the sudden deaths of Prince, Kobe Bryant and actor Chadwick Boseman, Warner’s death is being met in a lot of the Black community by the sort of deep grieving normally reserved for relations.
And it feels fully acceptable.
Almost from the starting, the world appeared to know that Warner was particular.
A baby actor who appeared on numerous sequence at a younger age, he exploded into superstardom when he landed the position of Theo Huxtable as a younger teen on “The Cosby Show.”
As is the case with any expert actor, Warner made the viewers neglect he was enjoying a task. It felt to viewers like he was Theo, the generally mischievous, however all the time well-meaning third baby of the Huxtable household. Warner stood out in the sequence with Bill Cosby, starring as the patriarch, and Phylicia Rashad as the matriarch, provided that Warner performed their characters’ solely son.
Centered round an achieved and loving Black household, the show became a cultural touchstone for many in Generation X, particularly younger Black individuals.
Off display screen, Warner managed to sidestep the pitfalls and scandals that so many baby stars face. After “The Cosby Show” resulted in 1992, Warner went on to different beloved sequence, together with “Malcom & Eddie,” “The Resident” and “9-1-1,” a formidable profession transition for any actor who has grown up on tv.
If his success can also be measured in esteem from colleagues, Warner had that in extra.
Fellow actors and former costars corresponding to Morris Chestnut, who labored with Warner on “The Resident,” Tracee Ellis Ross, who costarred with him on “Reed Between the Lines,” and Eddie Griffin, who starred reverse Warner in the sitcom “Malcolm & Eddie,” have expressed shock and grief over Warner’s sudden death.
“This loss has devastated me,” Warner’s “Community” costar Yvette Nicole Brown shared on social media.
“I don’t have the words right now, so I am repurposing these beautiful ones from my dear friend, who I adored,” she wrote in sharing a video of Warner. “To have him as a friend was a blessing from God. He was one of one.”
That sentiment was shared by many.
“The death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner represents a significant cultural loss for the industry and Black audiences, in particular,” Samantha Sheppard, an affiliate professor of cinema and media research at Cornell University, informed NCS. “Warner’s career is indelibly linked to a program that reshaped the representation of Black middle-class life on network television.”
“‘The Cosby Show’ and its cast have long existed in the shadow of Bill Cosby’s widely publicized sexual assault allegations, which have complicated and, in many respects, eclipsed public memory of the show’s cultural contributions,” she added. “This eclipse has too often obscured Warner’s evolution as an actor and artist following his years on the popular sitcom, including his work as a poet, musician, and versatile actor across a range of sitcoms and dramas.”
Warner mirrored on his multifacited profession in a 2013 dialog with the Television Academy Foundation.
“I have peace of mind and for me, you can’t put a price on that,” Warner stated at the time. “I can definitely say that I feel successful in my post-Cosby life.”
Part of that peace was present in the love of his spouse and younger daughter, who’ve largely prevented the glare of superstar life. In a dialog on the“Hot & Bothered with Melyssa Ford” podcast in May, Warner mirrored on his 2017 marriage ceremony and wanting to construct a household together with his partner.
“I’ve never, never second-guessed it,” Warner stated of his marriage. “There was a moment where I realized when people say, ‘When you know, you know,’ that’s what that feeling is.”
He additionally mentioned understanding the significance of legacy, noting that his mom had as soon as informed him that ‘Mr. (Bill) Cosby gave you immortality.”
“I feel like, okay, there’s that legacy there, but then, because I’ve had this full life after that show, there’s another lane of legacy that I get to leave,” Warner mirrored.
He was clear about how he wished to remembered.
“There’s part of me that I will be able to leave this earth knowing, and people knowing, that I was a good person,” Warner stated.
It was no act, which is why his community mourns so deeply for the man who was so way more than Theo.