MovieChat Forums > The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990) Discussion > Will's slightly pedophilic comment!

Will's slightly pedophilic comment!

posted 9 years ago by Deceptikon225
18 replies | jump to latest

Back when "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" was on the air, I used to record the shows. So I had hundreds of episodes on VHS that I used to watch over and over. In the episode "Bourgie Sings The Blues", from season 6 - I believe - when Carlton tanks his interview with the Princeton interviewer and he gets depressed and starts hanging out in a Blues club, there was a scene where Ashley was throwing a party at the house while her parents out of town. Keep in mind Ashley is still in high school and the house is filled with high school kids. Will comes into the house after going out for chicken nuggets and goes into the kitchen to get a bottle of barbecue sauce. One of Ashley's friends lecherously grabs Will by the arm and asks Ashley who he was and Will shoos her away. After she walks away, Will pulls Ashley aside and tells her "Make sure you stay friends with that one. A couple more years of seasoning - let it marinate- and I'll put some barbecue sauce on her. You know what I'm saying?"

I always thought that was odd that they would make a joke like that on a family sitcom. Every time I watch that episode in reruns they always cut that line out, so they must recognize the inappropriateness of it.

"I throw the 'sucka' in the front for the ones that front"

[–] AngryNegroMan 9 years ago

What man hasn't said something like that at least once

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/331755374797? Star Wars OST

[–] Deceptikon225 9 years ago

Oh, believe me, I know! That's one of the reasons I stopped going to the mall. LOL

It just seemed odd that they would write a joke - or let Will ad-lib a joke - like that into what's supposed to be a family sitcom.

"I rope-a-dope the evil with righteous bobbin' and weavin'..."

[–] furienna 9 years ago

To be fair though, "Fresh Prince" was a bit more edgy than many other family sitcoms of the era. It showed an interracial marriage (Janice and Frank) and was open with that Hilary, Will and Carlton all had sex without being married, none of which would have happened at TGIF shows like "Family Matters", "Full House" or "Step by Step". Nevertheless though, that joke was really pushing it. Even though I guess that we could be glad that Will could control himself from hitting on minors.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] Scorpion_Deathlock 9 years ago

"Edgy" that a black woman and white man were married? WTF is wrong with the world?

"We wire-tap every black person's phone in America" - Fresh Prince

[–] abajasds 9 years ago

LMFAO!! You call an interracial couple in the 1990's edgy? Try watching "The Jeffersons" which had an interracial couple now mind you...that show ran from 1975-85, and Tom and Helen Willis were called more names then some by George Jefferson in its early years.

Try edgy in the 1990's with the sitcom "Roc" with having a a character played by Richard Roundtree play a black gay man marry a white man.

My job is to inform, not persuade- Dan Rather

[–] furienna 9 years ago

LMFAO!! You call an interracial couple in the 1990's edgy? Try watching "The Jeffersons" which had an interracial couple now mind you...that show ran from 1975-85, and Tom and Helen Willis were called more names then some by George Jefferson in its early years.

Try edgy in the 1990's with the sitcom "Roc" with having a a character played by Richard Roundtree play a black gay man marry a white man.

Since I have never watched either one of those shows, there is no way that I can comment on them.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] furienna 9 years ago

"Edgy" that a black woman and white man were married? WTF is wrong with the world?

That was the truth on 1990s sitcoms. Things loosened up a bit by the 00s though.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] EmilyTheDramaQueen 9 years ago

During the time this show was on the air, shows started being more open about that kind of thing. Characters on other family shows during the time were having sex as well: Blossom, The Wonder Years, Roseanne, and on those shows the characters were teens and not just young adults who weren't married. Although I think it was implied that Will and Hillary had lost it in their teens.
But the interracial thing is something that had been done in the past, The Jeffersons did it but it wasn't without controversy, but around the time of this show it was just starting to come around without a lot of controversy.

"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"

Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material"

[–] furienna 9 years ago

It is true that "Fresh Prince", "Blossom" and "Roseanne" handled sex before marriage with less condemnation... But still, we should remember that Carlton from "Fresh Prince", and Joey from "Blossom", both came to regret that they were in such a hurry to lose their virginities. And when you look at some other shows from the 1990s ("Full House", "Family Matters", "Step by Step", "Sister, Sister"), they were even more conservative. They could have an episode or two about sex before marriage, yes. But the message would always be that you should wait until you are married.

And somehow, it seems like the interracial thing went hand in hand with the sex before marriage thing back then. So they could really have a marriage between a black woman and a white man on "Fresh Prince" (Janice/Frank), but they could only have one-sided crushes on shows like "Family Matters" (Rachel/Lt Murtaugh) and "Saved by the bell" (Lisa/Screech). To be fair though, it was made clear in both those cases, the black woman/girl disliked the white man/guy because he was a dork with little social skills, and it had nothing to do with race.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] EmilyTheDramaQueen 9 years ago

A bit OT but the Carlton thing bugged the crap out of me since he wasn't really in any rush but mostly did it because of pressure from Will and his friends. The whole waiting for Ms Right thing seemed important to him but then Will came along and told him differently and he ended up getting used.

"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"

Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material"

[–] furienna 9 years ago

Yeah, I agree with you there. That is yet another episode, that I don't really like.

Intelligence and purity.

[–] kristen1165 8 years ago

Interesting in the 90's, I can think of three instances where interracial relationships were covered, and all three times it was the black person's family shown as being the ones to have a problem with it (the white person's family was never shown, or never commented on it). The first was this show, second one, the movie with Julia Stiles called Save The Last Dance, where she dated a black guy and his sister (played by Kerry Washington) didn't approve, and the third being Samantha Jones on Sex and the City, same situation as Save the Last Dance.

Any other examples where it was the other way around? I don't recall any on television or movies from that time, unless they were period pieces, which none of my examples were.

[–] gc18 9 years ago

Also Will was only supposed to be 5 or 6 years older than Ashley.

Pedophile is prepubescent. Not teenage.

[–] WalkAwayRenee 9 years ago

lol, just another example of someone on IMDb misusing the word "pedophile" in order to try to make a point. But, to be honest, Will made another such comment on the show too, and I thought OP was going to mention that one because I'm recently re-watching the show and it occurred to me how many things on the show probably wouldn't be able to be gotten away with these days. In the episode Will Goes A-Courtin' when he and Carlton throw the pool party and their neighbor Stephanie comes over, Uncle Phil tells him to turn their music down because they have to consider their neighbors, and Will says, "I am, man. Right now I'm considering they fifteen year old daughter." [insert lecherous laugh here]

[–] gc18 8 years ago

But also Will was still in high school himself.

[–] tiffanykk2002 8 years ago

But in all fairness, he did say he would wait a couple years 'let it marinate.' So they tried to make it better.

[–] EmilyTheDramaQueen 9 years ago

You know a year ago, I had one of my mom's friends son who is 7 years older than me try to talk to me, at first I was considering it TBH but then he said to me that he thought I was hot the minute he met me but he met me when I was like 11 and he was 18! So I thought that was weird and just said forget about it. But this isn't as weird as that but still weird nonetheless.

"I'd rather lose for what I am than win for what I ain't"

Kacey Musgraves "Pageant Material"

[–] kentry 9 years ago

That is weird as hell. Why would a Seniir in high school/Freshman in College think a 5th Grader/6th Grader is hot? What a Perv. O.O :/

Drake is repetitive. He just raps the same thing over and over as if he is in an insane asylum!LOL:D