54: Will Smith Is Uncomfortable Playing a Gay Character Onscreen

“As the Will Turns” (April 10, 1995)

This is as close to a gay episode as Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ever got. And while it’s not necessarily the funniest piece of TV ever, it makes for a hell of a discussion of Will Smith’s personal life. This episode has some weird parallels with actual events in Will Smith, real-life actor. We’d say it’s unprecedented for a rapper-turned-actor to seemingly confront rumors about their sexuality in a network sitcom, but it plays out remarkably similar to the Living Single with the Queen Latifah parallels we did last season.

Special thanks to patron Erin Hardy for recommending this episode!

Shop at Smellbent, a queer-owned, L.A.-based cologne house.

Listen to our Living Single episode, which has some remarkable parallels with this one.

Why Aunt Viv No. 1 left the show, per this Bustle article. 

That weird Associated Press article about Alfonso Ribeiro *not* dying as a result of breakdancing on the set of a Pepsi ad.

This episode’s outro track is “Money” by Mozzart.