Jaleel White Doesn’t Feel Black Enough—Again

Last month, Jaleel White, who played nerdy Steve Urkel and his debonair alter-ego Stefan Urkelle, released a memoir of his life, Growing Up Urkel. White has not been Urkel in over 25 years. Maybe White is living in the past because the past was mostly really good to him but he does recount some less-than-savory moments he had. In his book, he talks about his first date, which was with Bianca Lawson, before she was cast in Saved By the Bell: The New Class, and how she essentially only went out with him for his status and money.

Not only was she 13 at the time, but Lawson was also the granddaughter of Berry Gordy, and Marvin Gaye III was her half-brother—surely, she needed a child actor’s help breaking into the entertainment industry and coin. 

During the press run for this book, he stopped by the Wilmington Library to chat with journalist Randall Shaw about his life and Black sitcoms. Some of his comments about his place in the zeitgeist of Black sitcoms did not sit well with many people on social media, as he, whether intentionally or not, slighted other shows with a mostly Black cast at the time.

White told Shaw, “Being a part of the ‘TGIF’ brand sometimes makes you feel like you don’t completely belong in the pantheon of Blackness. Blackness has been treated as a very monolithic experience in entertainment. If it’s not a hood story, it’s not a Black story. And you know, sometimes I feel left out of that.” White also described himself instead as an icon in nerd culture and “smart” culture, which makes one wonder, “What do you mean by that?”

It’s unfair for White to take issue with Family Matters not being considered a Black show when White himself said he based the character off white comedians, “Because my inspirations were white, the character came off being very authentic and original, like something nobody had ever seen.”

Saying shows like Martin and Living Single were hood shows, and that is why they are more associated with Blackness, is insincere, especially considering how the characters were portrayed.

Khadijah was a business owner whose cousin worked for her.  Their roommate, Regine, worked in a boutique and had a penchant for the finer things in life.  Their friend, Maxine, was a lawyer.  Kyle and Overton, who lived above them, were a stockbroker and a handyman, respectively.  And while some of their jobs were not common for Black people at the time, they were surely more aspirational than being a cop and more likely. Even with The Cosby Show’s universal appeal and Heathcliff and Claire both having jobs that were not the usual “Black jobs,” again, they were aspirational. The Cosby Show, for all of Bill’s wrongs, had so many rights, and the exaltation of Black scholarship was one of them that could not be replicated and would not be replicated by making the Huxtable’s white. Even with Friends being the Temu version of Living Single, the way the show was written, the script could never be replicated with a white cast as is.

There were far too many cultural specificities in both shows to deny their impact and confident Blackness. 

However, Family Matters was not a Black show in the same way other Black shows of its time were. Save for the occasional stereotypes they wrote in for Eddie and Harriette; there was nothing really Black about the characters. Harriette was an elevator operator turned head of security, and Carl was a cop in Chicago during the 90s, when there was new attention focused on police brutality (copaganda anyone?).

This is not to say there were not Black cops or heads of security in Chicago in the 1990s, but that was hardly indicative of the average Black household. For the most part, the characters could have easily been swapped out for white actors with the same script, and there would have been very little difference. 

Family Matters was under the TGIF brand, which was ABC’s golden lineup; ABC was not known for pushing the edge in television during that time and would be bought by Disney in the mid-90s (in the middle of Family Matters’ run), further solidifying its squeaky-clean, unprovoking image, as a network.  Living Single and Martin were both Fox shows.  Fox was a relatively new network and sharpened its teeth on cutting-edge entertainment, which often featured stories about Black life, not just Black people, in ways that other networks were afraid to, i.e., South Central, In Living Color, MadTV, etc.

White stated that Black kids being made fun of and compared to Steve Urkel was part of nerd culture, or as he put it, what is now “smart” culture as if Maxine Shaw and Kyle Barker were not smart. Steve’s appeal as a character was not him being “smart” back then. Steve was annoying and was originally slated for a single appearance, but with the lagging ratings, his character proved to be a breakout hit and saved the show from cancellation. Steve’s goofiness was the entertainment, not his intellect. The show shifted from a family show to a show about Steve, a family and his hijinks.

While it was obviously written to be over-the-top, it is doubtful all that crazy sh*t was going to fly in an average Black household, even if it was fun to watch, and it seems like White agrees.

In a 2020 interview, White admits that he based the character off white comedians. “Because my inspirations were white, the character came off being very authentic and original, like something nobody had ever seen.”

Because his inspirations were white, the character came off as very authentic—yikes on bikes.

Yes, Jaleel, you said that; you did do that.