Carlton Banks proved to be one of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's most beloved characters, but actor Alfonso Riberio was actually fired early on. It's hard to imagine Fresh Prince without Carlton, who began the series as a fairly standard upper class foil to Will's street-smart Philadelphia ways, but evolved into a character it was almost impossible to dislike. Sure, Carlton's privileged upbringing sometimes led to him being naive about the true injustices the world had in store, but he was a good person at heart.
Playing Carlton ended up being a bit of a double-edged sword for Ribeiro, as the character became so beloved that it typecast him into similar comedic nerd roles. Still, Ribeiro successfully managed to turn his Fresh Prince fame into a decades-long career in Hollywood, even becoming the current host of the TV institution known as America's Funniest Home Videos. Ribeiro also directs a lot of TV episodes, displaying talent behind the scenes as well as in front of the camera.
Without the Carlton role to propel him though, it's likely Ribeiro would've never ended up as successful as he is, and if an NBC executive had gotten his way early on, Riberio would've been left out in the cold. Here's how - and why - he ended up fired from, then rehired by, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Not long after The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air filmed its pilot episode, Alfonso Ribeiro was fired. The reason was pretty simple, high-ranking NBC executive Warren Littlefield - then vice president, soon to be promoted to network president - disliked the Carlton Banks character and more specifically how Ribeiro played him, as he didn't find the actor funny. So he fired Ribeiro and ordered the role be rewritten and recast. Amusingly, Littlefield even reportedly thought the Carlton role could be seen as insulting to white people.
Thankfully, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's cast and crew were unwilling to lose Ribeiro, who they had quickly gelled with. Thus, they spent the next six weeks lobbying NBC brass to rehire Ribeiro, including star Will Smith himself. Surprisingly, their pleas didn't fall on deaf ears, and Ribeiro did eventually receive the call that his services as Carlton were once again needed. Presumably though, there somewhere exists a sad alternate timeline in which Carlton was recast, Riberio's hilarious Carlton Dance never became a thing, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air didn't become the hit it became in conventional reality. If that happened, it could well have had the further domino effect of not launching Smith's career and turning him into one of the biggest stars in the world. Thankfully, NBC changed its mind.
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