Will Smith reportedly turned down a chance to portray up-and-coming drag queen RuPaul in a cameo on his breakout series, The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. The executive producer of the show, David Steven Simon, had recently disclosed that Will Smith was strongly against the idea of a drag queen appearing on his programme. In the book by journalist Thea Glassman, David describes how Smith was resistant to the notion for only one reason—his “image.”
What happened on the set of the show is described in the new book by journalist Thea Glassman, “Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson’s Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television.”
Thea observes that Will Smith was generally open to ideas and did not readily reject them. But when David suggested RuPaul’s appearance on the show, everything changed. Back then, RuPaul was just entering the music scene with his dance song ‘Supermodel (You Better Work).’ Smith quickly said ‘no’ as soon as the notion was floated.
Simon had made attempts to make the actor understand, but the book describes how he refused: “And I said, ‘No, listen, hear my story.'” The book narrates how Smith refused to change his mind about his initial viewpoint. A drag queen appearing on the show, according to the actor, was a “bad idea.”