Alfonso Ribeiro has firmly expressed his refusal to work with Tyler Perry again, showing a clear lack of regard for the entertainment mogul. On May 28, a fan on social media suggested that Perry could help revive Ribeiro’s career, which Ribeiro recently admitted had been stifled due to being typecast as Carlton Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
“I Don’t Need or Ever Want That Man to Do Anything for Me”
The fan tagged both Perry and Ribeiro, writing, “@tylerperry needs to revamp @alfonso_riberio career, I just know he could.” Ribeiro quickly responded, “I don’t need or ever want that man to do anything for me.” This cold reply caught fans off guard, as Ribeiro is usually jovial.
Ribeiro’s experience with Perry was as a director on the sitcom Meet the Browns. He directed 12 episodes, including one that received controversy due to allegations against Perry by an actor who said he was pressured to play a gay character or risk being fired. Brandin Jay, the actor involved, called it “the most stressful and hardest experience” of his life. He claimed Perry fed him lines and expected him to learn them on the spot. Despite his dissatisfaction, Jay played the role as requested during the lone episode Ribeiro directed.
Ribeiro’s Career Beyond Carlton Banks
The fan’s suggestion for Ribeiro to work with Perry came after recent comments from Ribeiro about feeling typecast as Carlton Banks. Ribeiro told Closer Weekly, “It was one of the greatest roles that I ever was fortunate enough to play. But it was also the role that stopped me from acting again because people couldn’t see me as anything else.”
Despite this typecasting, Ribeiro has had a successful career. Since 2022, he has hosted Dancing With the Stars, a show he won in 2014. He has also hosted America’s Funniest Home Videos since 2015. Ribeiro’s iconic role as Carlton Banks remains memorable, particularly the “Carlton dance.”
In September 2022, Ribeiro told Today that fans still ask him to perform the dance. He said, “You come to grips with the idea that that person existed… when people come up to me on the street and they’re like, ‘Do the dance,’ it’s like, ‘Really? You’re asking me to dance for you?’”
He has come to terms with this. “It’s really their experience and you learn to get that empathy where you can kind of say, ‘This is about you and what you had in your house and I can appreciate it.’ I’m still not dancing. But I get to appreciate other people’s experience with me as that character.”
Despite the fan’s suggestion, it’s clear Ribeiro does not want or need Perry’s help.