Rejecting RuPaul might sound like an inconceivable idea in this day and age, but back in the ’90s, Will Smith reportedly wasn’t very interested in working with the drag queen. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air producer David Steven Simon revealed that Smith said no to a RuPaul cameo on the show because of concerns over his “image.”
Simon, who’s featured in a book written by Thea Glassman about television shows that changed the medium, got to talk about his experience working on Fresh Prince — one of its decade’s most successful programs. Also in the ’90s, before Drag Race made him one of the most influential people in pop culture, RuPaul was taking over the radio with his hit single “Supermodel (You Better Work).”
Simon was the one who approached Smith with the idea of featuring the “Queen of Drag” on the show, but the Fresh Prince star was determined. According to the producer, the actor “kept repeating that it was a bad idea” after he insisted. Simon doesn’t seem to have any doubts about why Smith was so against it.
“The reason he would say no is because of his image. Period. The End.”
Both Smith and RuPaul have gone on to become two of the most well-known players in Hollywood, but the world lost out on an iconic ’90s mash-up. There are not a lot of things more symbolic of the period than Fresh Prince and “Supermodel,” but Smith couldn’t see the vision over his alleged PR anxieties.
Neither Smith nor RuPaul have commented on Simon’s report yet.