Fresh Prince Fans Getting Emotional Over Uncle Phil Tribute During Will Smith Snapchat Reunion

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air cast paid tribute to James Avery, the actor who played Uncle Phil on Will Smith‘s Snapchat show. Alfonso Ribeiro, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Tatyana Ali, Karyn Parsons, Daphne Maxwell Reid, and Joseph Marcell all joined Will From Home to remember the beloved actor. He passed away in 2014, and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house while the clips were playing. Even over Zoom, the delivery of his sage wisdom touched them all. Apparently, the people at home still love some Uncle Phil as well. When the clip was posted to Twitter, the comments from all across the world flooded in and shared their memories from the series.

Smith’s larger interview with the cast asked a lot of fun questions. Most of them concerned being recognized as a part of a landmark TV show. DJ Jazzy Jeff explained that he, “got really, really annoyed that everybody wanted to do the handshake” from the beloved program. He laughed, “You would see in people’s eyes when they were about to sneak the handshake and I would just grab their hand and hold it. Besides that, I’m good.” He and Smith have a long relationship that pre-dates the show during their music careers, so it was really refreshing to see them joking with each other over the video call.

What would the reunion be without Carlton? Ribeiro revealed that it was his idea for Smith to go by his given name during the series. “We had talked and I said, ‘Look, if you’re ever going to do this show, you’ve got to be Will Smith,’” Ribeiro said.

The Fresh Prince star responded, “It was such a deep insight that you had. You said, ‘Because people are going to call you that for the rest of your life!’” History would prove that to be absolutely correct in the long run.

Stay in touch with friends and family during the coronavirus pandemic was the reason for Smith to start this show. He shared how he felt responsible for the surge of misinformation around the coronavirus on his wife’s Red Table Talk show.

“While I was preparing for I Am Legend, my character was a virologist,” he continued. “So, I had an opportunity in preparation for the role to go to the CDC. There was a basic foundational comprehension of viruses and viral pathogens that I developed and it really changed my life and how I looked at the world. There’s basic concepts that people do not understand… So what I wanted was for us to have now is the opportunity to just go through the basics, and then bring in the experts.”

What’s your favorite Uncle Phil moment? Let us know down in the comments!

RIP Uncle Phil

Real tears

Opening doors for others

Still teaching after all this time

In your feelings

For. Real.

Who is chopping onions???

I’m hurt

All this crying

Need a moment

Good job. Good effort.

The eternal argument

Exactly

Totally crying at work

Pretty much

All of us right now

Nobody was ready

The memories are so worth it.