It’s Emmy season, where dozens of actors receive awards and accolades for starring on some of the top shows on television.
Actor Jaleel White, 47, played the iconic Steve Urkel character on “Family Matters” for nine seasons. The series was a ratings hit for ABC, but the sitcom never won a Primetime Emmy Award.
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences nominated “Family Matters” for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Special Visual Effects in 1996. The “Perfect Strangers” spinoff lost to NBC’s “Gulliver’s Travels” miniseries at that ceremony.
White spoke about getting shut out at the Emmys in a resurfaced 2021 interview with Yahoo Entertainment. He compared his show’s lack of ATAS recognition to the critical success of “The Wonder Years” starring fellow child actor Fred Savage.
“You were made to feel African-American,” White said about being overlooked by Emmy voters. He noted that people like “The Wonder Years” star Fred Savage, who “was always invited to the Emmys” and “always treated like a darling during his time.”
As for himself, “I was never invited to the Emmys, even to present,” said White. “It was pretty much told to us I would be wasting my time to even submit myself for a nomination.”
Additionally, the Culver City, California, native continued, “I always took tremendous pride in how many different people from all walks of life came up to me and recognized ‘Family Matters.’ I was always really, really proud of that because that showed the complete opposite of the way I was being treated by our television elite.”
Throughout the five-year run of “The Wonder Years,” the coming-of-age comedy was awarded four Emmys on 28 nominations. Fred Savage scored two nods for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series in 1989 and 1990.
Jaleel White’s conversation with Yahoo Entertainment resurfaced on the Golden Era Stories Instagram page on Aug. 2, 2024. Social media users reacted to White’s comments about the Emmy Awards.
“Family Matters” star Cherie Johnson, who played Maxine “Max Johnson,” shared her own experience of never being honored at the Emmy Awards. The 48-year-old actress claimed, “I was nominated for Punky but wasn’t invited.”
According to the official Emmy Awards website, Cherie Johnson was not nominated for her role in “Punky Brewster” which aired from Sept. 1984 to March 1986. The program did garner three nominations between 1985 and 1986.
Another Instagram commenter asked Johnson if she got invited to any award shows. She responded, “[The] Daytime Emmy’s invited me for the Punky reboot a few years ago, I chose not to go.”
In addition, White’s supporters showed their appreciation for his work as Steve Urkel. One person wrote, “My man was the gas pedal for the ENTIRE RUN of the show!”
Venus DeMilo Thomas, Cherie Johnson, Jaleel White, and Kellie Shanygne Williams in Family Matters (1989) pic.twitter.com/SLlAYZL9Uz
— Huey K. Bridgeforth (@hkb73) January 27, 2024
Another fan posted, “Don’t worry about it. You still did your thing bro. And guess what? Fred Savage never had a doll. We had the Urkel doll.” A third backer added, “Jaleel is a GOAT. Urkel is perfection.”
An outraged fan said, “Wow!!! A blatant slap in the face.”
In a May 2024 interview, Tisha Campbell, the Black actress who played Gina on the classic 1990s-era Fox sitcom “Martin,” spoke about why she did not get celebrated at the Emmy Awards.
According to the “House Party” movie franchise alumna, a Caucasian publicist implied Campbell’s race prevented her from gaining an Emmy nomination.
“Back then, we didn’t look at things to get accolades. We were just trying to feed our families, and we had to take away that we would be acknowledged for the things that we do,” she explained.
“Family Matters” debuted on ABC on Sept. 22, 1989. After moving to CBS for its final season, the series came to an end on July 17, 1998. The cast also included Reginald VelJohnson, Jo Marie Payton, Darius McCrary, Rosetta LeNoire, Telma Hopkins, and Kellie Shanygne Williams.
With 215 episodes, “Family Matters” became one of the longest-running Black sitcoms in television history. “The Jeffersons” reached 253 episodes between January 1975 and July 1985. “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne” crossed the 358-episode mark in August 2024.
The Fred Savage-led “The Wonder Years” ran for six seasons from January 1988 until May 1993. A new version of the show, based on a Black middle-class family, debuted in September 2021 before getting canceled after two seasons.
“Punky Brewster” starred Soleil Moon Frye as the title character. The show originally aired on NBC between September 1984 and March 1986. A revival launched on the Peacock streaming service in February 2021 but was canceled following the first season.
