Jasmine Guy of A Different World recently was featured on Ryan Cameron’s Uncensored podcast to open up about her time playing Whitley Gilbert on the iconic show. She surprisingly revealed that she doesn’t get paid much despite how popular the show was in the 1990s.
Guy divulged that although she’s an experienced actor, she never had a significant stake in the show’s shares because she was just an actress, so any revenue from the old show’s residuals– she didn’t get.
“We didn’t own it, you know,” Guy described, “I didn’t have any position to ask for nothing. I was like, ‘I’m making $6,000. I’d never seen that.”
Cameron was surprised by the revelation, continuing to ask questions to try to figure out how that was possible.
The podcast’s host was stunned and asked the actress to elaborate. From blaming show owner Bill Cosby to the business industry as a whole, Instagram users had tons of theories over why the Black woman was being sold short on her role in the show’s success.
“This is ALL ON DR. COSBY,” someone said. “This was his show!”
Another user added, “I will say this..they have definitely taken advantage of our people in Hollywood for so very long. For such an iconic show..contracts should have been renegotiated in order for the cast to get residual income through syndication.”
“This thing is 5% entertainment and 95% business. Those damn contracts a lot are Draconian..you don’t know what you’re essentially signing away until it’s far too late to do something about it.”
A Different World has an excellent 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes for its final season, often hailed as one of the very greatest Black sitcoms. Guy has an estimated network of only about $2 million despite her extensive acting career and other talents. In contrast, Cosby has an estimated about $400 million.
