The actress who played Aunt Viv alongside Will Smith on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” launched a scathing social media attack on his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, on Monday.
Janet Hubert posted a four minute video on Facebook in reaction to the “Matrix Reloaded” actress’ pledge to boycott the Oscars because of the lack of diversity among this year’s acting nominees.
Calling herself Blacktress Janet Hubert, she said she wanted to speak out because it was Martin Luther King, Jr Day.
“First of all, Miss Thing, does your man not have a mouth of his own with which to speak?” she said, directing her message at Jada. “And the second thing is, there’s a lot of sh-t going on in the world that you don’t seem to recognize. People are dying, being shot left and right, people are hungry, people are trying to pay bills — and you’re talking about actors and Oscars. It just ain’t that deep.
“Here’s the other thing. For you to ask other actors and actresses to jeopardize their career and standing in this town, you know damn well you don’t do that. Here’s the other thing — they don’t care.”
Pinkett Smith is among the growing list of Hollywood stars that includes Spike Lee, “Straight Outta Compton” producer Will Packer, Oscars host Chris Rock and Don Cheadle to speak out about the diversity issue.
“At the Oscars, people of color are always welcomed to give out awards, even entertain, but we are rarely recognized for our artistic accomplishments,” the “Gotham” actress wrote on Facebook and in a series of tweets on Saturday. “Should people of color refrain from participating all together?”
However, Hubert took issue with the motives driving Jada’s appeal for equality, saying in her video: “I find it ironic that somebody who has made their living and has made millions and millions of dollars from the very people that you’re talking about boycotting just because you didn’t get a nomination, just because you didn’t win?” she continued. “That’s not the way life works, baby.”
Hubert has had a long-running feud with Will Smith since their days on “Fresh Prince,” and she has accused him of having her kicked off the NBC show in 1993. “[Smith] said ‘we’re just gonna replace her and act like nothing happened,’” she told Huffington Post in May 2013.
In her latest rant, the TV actress recalled an incident 20-something years ago while she was still on “Fresh Prince” when she asked Smith to help the cast band together to get higher wages from the network, like they did on “Friends.”
She claims the star’s response was “my deal is my deal, your deal is your deal,” but now “karma is a bitch,” she quipped.
Rather than thinking Smith should have gotten a nomination for “Concussion,” Hubert said, “There were those out there who really deserved a nod, Idris Elba was one of them. ‘Beasts of No Nation’ was incredible.”
“You ain’t Barack and Michelle Obama. And y’all need to get over yourselves. You have a huge production company that you only produce your friends and family and yourself. So you are a part of Hollywood, you are part of the system that is unfair to other actors. So get real,” she concluded.
Also on Monday, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Cheryl Boone Isaacs expressed her disappointment in the lack of diversity among this year’s acting nominees.
“I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. This is a difficult but important conversation, and it’s time for big changes,” she said in a statement.
The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership,” Boone Isaacs continued. “In the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond.”
See Hubert’s video below.