Family Matters Star Jaleel White Says He Was Not Welcomed By Cast

Jaleel White is saying that the Family Matters cast wasn’t exactly welcoming him with open arms. The star talked to TVOne’s Uncensored about his part in the wildly popular sitcom. People might not remember, but the show actually existed before Urkel ever appeared. Family Matters ran for about 11 episodes before their dorky neighbor became a fixture of the series. Well, the other cast members had no way of knowing that Urkelmania would sweep the United States. In fact, when most people think about the show now, White’s character is consistently at the top of the list. He became a pop-cultural mainstay and spawned merchandise. It’s all wild to think about in retrospect and the Urkel actor talks about that in more in the interview that appears on TVOne tomorrow. Check out what he had to say down below:

“I was not welcomed to the cast at all. They know what it was,” White explained during Uncensored. “I didn’t think anything of it, being cast to be on Family Matters, because it was supposed to be a guest spot, one and done.”

Comicbook.com had the chance to speak to Reginald VelJohnson about the prospect of a reboot a few years ago.

“They still do, you know there’s … recently on the Internet, they were talking about re-booting the Family Matters and Perfect Strangers whole thing, so that was kind of interesting,” VelJohnson said. “People now and then still remember me from that, they meet you and every time I go to the store market, someone always says, ‘Hey, are you that guy from Family Matters?’ So, people still love that show very much and if it comes back I’ll be ready. It was a wonderful time for me.”

“I didn’t realize it was going to last that long, and I did it, and people seem to love it. It would be nice to do a sequel or something to it you know? I think people would enjoy that,” VelJohnson said.

“Whatever they wanted me to do, I’d be involved in man,” VelJohnson said. “I am so excited that people are still lovin’ the stuff, the work that I … that’s been done and want it to come back. I would be immediately involved. I’m so happy that people are responding to what I did years ago and whatnot and they’re responding, you know? I love it man. Family Matters, I would love to do a reboot of that show. It would be exciting.”

White’s episode of Uncensored airs this Sunday on TVOne.

Did you love Family Matters? Let us know in the comments!