TV host and former child star Alfonso Ribeiro made it clear that he never wants to work with or be associated with Hollywood filmmaker Tyler Perry ever again.
Ribeiro, who rose to stardom in the 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, responded to a social media user's suggestion that Perry could have a hand in revitalizing Ribeiro's acting career.
But the host of ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos shot that idea down quickly.
A fan on X (formerly Twitter) tagged Perry and Ribeiro and tweeted:
“@tylerperry needs to revamp @alfonso_riberio career, I just know he could.”
Ribeiro left no room for interpretation by responding with:
"I don’t need or ever want that man to do anything for me."
The curt reply left fans scratching their heads.
In the 1980s, Ribeiro emerged as a child actor who made his Broadway debut as the lead character in The Tap Dance Kid.
He later appeared as a dancer in a Pepsi commercial featuring Michael Jackson, and as Rick Schroder's best friend and sidekick in the NBC sitcom Silver Spoons.
His major breakthrough came playing Carlton Banks, the cousin of Will Smith's lead character on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air for six seasons.
It was a role that Ribeiro recently said "became a sacrifice." It was this statement that prompted the unsolicited help from the X user to entice a comeback through Perry's connection.
Ribeiro discussed the role of Carlton being a blessing and a curse in an interview with Closer Weekly.
He said:
"I used to always say doing Carlton was the greatest and worst thing that ever happened to me."
"It was one of the most sumptuous roles that I ever was fortunate enough to play, but it was also the role that stopped me from acting again because people couldn’t see me as anything else."
"The sacrifice was not having an acting career anymore.”
Following the success of Fresh Prince, Ribeiro transitioned to directing after graduating from the New York Film Academy in 1999.
Among his first credits as a director was Meet the Browns, in which Perry served as producer.
Ribeiro directed 12 episodes of the popular TBS sitcom about a multigenerational group of people cohabitating.
One of the episodes Ribeiro directed sparked controversy after an actor made an allegation against Perry, claiming they were forced to play a gay character or risk getting fired.
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