Jaleel White Believes ‘Family Matters’ Doesn’t Get The Same Recognition As Other Black Sitcoms: “If It’s Not A Hood Story, It’s Not A Black Story” [Video]

During a sit-down at the Wilmington Library as part of promotional efforts for his memoir, Growing Up Urkel, actor Jaleel White got candid about the legacy he’s created with Family Matters and how certain Black sitcoms are often overlooked.

“Being a part of the ‘TGIF’ [ABC programming block] brand sometimes makes you feel like you don’t belong in the pantheon of Blackness,” White began. “If it’s not a hood story, it’s not a Black story.”

White famously portrayed nerdy Steve Urkel in the hit ABC sitcom Family Matters. Despite the show’s major success, running for nine seasons, White noted that it doesn’t receive the same recognition as other Black sitcoms like Martin and Living Single.

“If there’s ever a poll, and they say what are your favorite Black shows? Martin is in there, Living Single… I already know we’re coming in last,” he joked. “If there’s ever a poll and it’s just your favorite family shows, suddenly we rank really high. So it’s kind of interesting in how we look at ourselves even as Black folks.”

Additionally, White touched on his unexpected influence on Black male nerds. “Somehow I became a symbol of Black male nerd culture, I know this for a fact,” he said. “Any brother that grew up in the 90s and 2000s, he was told that he looked like me. He was called Urkel and he didn’t look anything like me, guaranteed.”

He continued, “It’s not nerd culture, it’s smart culture, it’s hobbyist culture, it’s skateboarders… I could never have known in a million years that I could be the face of that.”

Nonetheless, White also explained his decision not to be involved in a reboot of ‘Family Matters’ a few years back. Although Netflix asked other 90s sitcoms to participate in a reboot, White didn’t feel the show needed to be revived.

“I didn’t feel that it was right for us to have to copy what Full House had done to fit inside someone’s business model to capture the magic that made our show make sense,” he explained.