BIN Exclusive: Cast of 'A Different World' Talks HBCUs & More

BIN News Anchor Esther Dillard talks with the cast of A Different World as they celebrate the 35th anniversary of their show and reflect on the impact of their long-running program on HBCUs.

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Episode Transcript

(00:07):
I know my parcel s. Comeme. I'm Master Dillard on the Black
Information Network. It was back innineteen eighty seven when the family sitcom A
Different World premiered. Well, thatwas thirty five years ago, and the
cast is celebrating in a very bigway. They're in New York City to

(00:30):
be part of the Toyota HBCU Classic. Joining us is Kadeem Hardison, who
played Dwayne Wayne, Jasmine Guy whoplayed Whitley Gilbert, and Darryl Bell,
who played Ron Johnson. I'm sohappy you could make it all to the
b I N again. Like Isaid before we started recording that I used
to watch you guys every week andI loved it. I felt like,

(00:52):
in a way I was cheated becauseI was in college by that time and
I didn't know about HBCUs. Doyou get that all the time from people,
Yes, we get especially when wewere doing this show. I thought
everybody knew about black colleges because Iknew a lot about it, But most
people do not know that black collegesexists and why you should go and why

(01:15):
you should entertain going. So hopefullyA Different World helped in that bringing it
to their awareness and making it achoice that they didn't know that they had
black people. I think more peoplenow know more about HBCUs since the show,
but way back in the day innineteen eighty seven, I think it

(01:36):
was a little bit different up forat least people up living up in the
North East area like where we areright now, and the west too,
because when you when you tell helppeople, many people may have never known
about Howard. They may have knownabout Spellman or Morehouse, but most people
didn't know there are one hundred andseven HBCUs right so a different world.

(02:00):
So definitely, it's you know,remains the pre eminent example of HBCUs in
film and television and had you know, when we were in prime time,
we doubled enrollment at HBCUs. Andnow you can talk to anybody who went
to an HBCU and they will swearthat a different world was about their school,
you know that. And there arefolks that are trying to apply to

(02:22):
him in this week. You know, we have to tell that Hilman and
nat Hill, you're gonna have tofind Hampton and Howard. There's no Hilman
you can go to. But yeah, it's it's been spectacular in terms of
response, not only from like yousay, you watched in primetime, but
now we find that fans that watchthe show originally now their kids are watching.

(02:42):
So you know it's new generations thatare finding it and being inspired by.
Well, I know we have limitedtime, so I don't want to
waste a drop. Can you pleasetell us what this event is about and
how you're involved at the Apollo Theaterin Harlem. Oh sure, So,
as you said, it's the ToyotaNew York HBC Classic is It's gonna be
Albany State versus Morehouse Saturday at NetlifeStadium. The game is going down,

(03:08):
a half time show is gonna belit, so we're gonna be there list
for that. But tonight we're gonnabe appearing at the Apollo Theater at seven
pm. We're gonna have a paneldiscussion about HBCUs and their legacy and impact
on culture and history. And thenthere's gonna be a great debate where Morehouse

(03:28):
is going to the more House Debateteam is going to debate the Rutgers Debate
team on affirmative action, and soeverybody should come out. It's gonna be
an exciting night. Skip Dialard ishosting and it's gonna be a great time.
Oh, mister Hurdison, I haven'theard from you at all, so
I was hoping that maybe you couldjust interject. How do you think that
this show would have kind of madeit? How do you think the show

(03:51):
kind of had an impact on thegenerations of black folks and culture in your
opinion? I get people coming upto me every other day saying I'm an
engineer because of you. The bestthing about it was that we doubled the

(04:11):
enrollment in HBCU. Who's while wewere on the air, people though school
was fun and cool, and wemade it look like a good time.
So why not go. If you'rea fourteen year old and you catch this
show, you're going to college.It just looks like the thing to do.
So I'm thrilled. That's part ofmy legacy as well. When you

(04:35):
talk to other parents and about andto other students, what do you say
is like I said, I guessthe secret sauce about the HBCU experience that
makes it so attractive to folks.Listen, you know, if you if
you're trying to differentiate what it's liketo be at an HBCU versus a PWI.

(04:55):
We're talking about culture. You're surroundedby people who share culture and language
and experiences. You know, justas we were talking about the game,
the idea of going to what thehalftime show is, you know, that's
a that's unique to HBCUs they havetheir own flavor there and there's a you
know, for the time that youwere developing as a young adult and the

(05:19):
council that you get. Most HBCUstudents will tell you that their professors take
an interest in them unlike anywhere else, unlike an experience at any other institution,
and that it makes a difference intheir development and ulment success. In
Lives Down Jasmine and the show,I remember Dwayne. Dwayne's character was having

(05:43):
a kind of an internal conflict becausea friend of his had come to the
school and had been telling him thatit'd be better to go to a PWI
because you were gonna suffer. Yeah, you know, you're gonna lose out,
miss out on things because of goingto any HBCU. And I think
it was your character that said,no place. I love you like Shore

(06:14):
again, neverminds you were small.If you put the performance and love you
like children. Yeah. Yeah,that scene stands out to me because it
was it was one of the thingsI had to use as an actor just
to to yeah, be like,yeah, I'm solid in my choice to
be here, and this is theplace I chose. I chose it for

(06:38):
a reason, and I'm staying andyou can going back to Penn State and
good luck with you. But itwas it was her saying no place,
love you like you. I thinkhe was telling me something that your grandmother
said something I was gonna say,why was Whitley like Harriet? I was
so confused when I said that,now I was imitating my grandfather. So

(07:09):
that's twice removed. Where did youpull that from? Where did you really
imitating my grandfather? Yeah? Onlya real actress, That's the truth.
That's use everything in the bag oftricks. Did you have you found that
now when you do these type ofthings that more people come up to you

(07:32):
and say that you've been an inspirationto them, not only in their school
life, but in real life andin their their home life and things like
that. Have you gotten that kindof response from people after thirty five years,
all the time we walked through theairport yesterday, the man ran out
of the bar because he saw usto say, I went to Howard because

(07:54):
you got me. He jumped outof his chair and chases down down the
hallway. We we were in Detroitwalking into a radio interview and a girl
just started sobbing in the street.She was like, you all don't know.
Yeah, she's just having to catchout of a car. And how

(08:24):
impactful we all were on her life. And you know it's everyone is or
in life. To have an impacton anybody's life is so special and so
those moments to know that there areso many people who have felt this way
again, it's the greatest gift thatwe get for the work that we did.

(08:46):
People still say that we are relationshipgoals. I still hear that Dwayne
and Whitley are relationship goals. Ihear that I mentioned my daughter to somebody
and body acted like it was sofair. I was like, that's Cadem's
daughter. You do know we're notreally married and I wasn't really pregnant.

(09:09):
Believe that one. People think thesecharacters are real life, but it happens
a lot now, the little bittykids, I don't you know that kind
of stuff is now sure, Butlike somebody said, oh, I ran
into your father, and they weren't. It wasn't my daddy. It was
ron O'Neil. They were talking about. Now, if you had said you

(09:31):
ran into Superflower, would have nohere. I said, you ran into
my daddy. What was he doingin Miami? Yeah? No, not
not your real daddy. I'm talkingabout doing on the show. I was
like, okay, thank you,next to take this self. You know,
people are people really get into thestory, and I know that there

(09:52):
are so many topics that this showhad had addressed it. It really was
an impactful show. And I evenremember reading an article that was said that
some people didn't feel that it gotthe cred that it should have gotten.
You know, that it wasn't giventhe because it was kind of I guess

(10:13):
Sinbad said that he thought that itwas kind of like the step child of
the Cosby Show and that it wasn'tgiven. But they always said, you're
only benefiting because you come after Cosbyand before Cheers. I said, people
can't change its channel. Okay,we're able to do that, And how
are we benefitting Cheers? We're benefittingCheers too, because black people weren't watching

(10:37):
cheers, and they might be nowbecause cheers comes between a Different World and
La Law, So maybe as cheersas benefiting. That's what It's always funny
how that works. But it's truethat on one hand, we never received
the critical embrace the way we receivedthe fans embrace. And there have been

(11:03):
a lot of articles written in theNew York Times and New York As others
who said exactly what you just referencedthat in retrospect, when you look at
the impact that we had in thesubjects we addressed, from health issues to
politics and racism and gun violence andall of the issues that we address,

(11:24):
that it's really significant our body ofwork, and it is why A Different
World remains so relevant. So,you know, when not every show can
say since we debuted in nineteen eightyseven, there hasn't been a day of
Different World has not been on theair. It's been running consistently throughout for

(11:46):
thirty five years, and it isbecause of the subject matter that we talk
about, you know, so Ithink it well, you know, listen,
we have given none to Susan failsHill, to Debbie Allen, to
Tom Werner and Marcy Carcy, everyonewho was a part of producing the show,

(12:09):
who had the foresight to say,you know, let's be real about
what you see on college campuses andwhat they deal with. Look schooled.
I left Syracuse where we were actuallyprotesting apart. Time to go do school
days where we were protesting apart.Time to go do a different world where

(12:31):
we shut down the radio station toprotest. You know, so it's real
life imitating ours censorship. Well,I also have to say that it was
doctor Cosby's genius to say one ofmy kids is going to school this year.
It was either Malcolm Jamal War orLisa Bonet, and they're going to

(12:52):
go to a black school, becausethat could have gone anywhere they had money.
And the choice to put that onTV was brilliant because no, mattter
what the show was about. Wewere on that black campus and it was
always a character on the show.I don't want to leave without asking you,
mister Hardison, what your mom?Beth An Hardison known for being the

(13:16):
first black one of the first highprofile black models. She has a movie
coming out, Yeah, Supermodel.Can you tell me about the movie and
where people can see it? Yes, it's in New York premiers tomorrow night.
At the Film Forum, and thenit'll be in theaters. You'd have
to check Invisible Beauty dot com,the website, or Instagram for dates.

(13:41):
It's gonna be in in certain citieslimited, and hopefully if it makes some
noise in the first weekend, they'llput it in more cities. It's I
learned so much about my mother watchingthis film. You know what I mean.
We got together when I was twelveeleven, she says ten. I

(14:03):
say, I say eleven. Butthat's when I got to know her and
and and and build start building ourrelationships. Before that, I was with
my grandmother in Brooklyn, so allthis stuff that happened before, like we
not met, but you know whatI mean, we moved in together.

(14:24):
I learned I'm seeing for the firsttime and I was alone away. I
could not I didn't even understand how. I didn't know because we don't sit
around they tell me what you didn't. She was doing it, and she
was going fast. Yeah, andshe was moving so fast. She had
to be like my whole hymn fora minute, I'll be back, I'll

(14:46):
be back. And it was apoint something happened in Brooklyn. I was
like, yo, I'm ready comeget me. Yeah, And I can't
imagine what kind of adversity that shehad to go through as one of the
first black models, having to dealwith nobody else being in that space and
having to stand and be strong asa black woman and then and do your

(15:11):
thing, you know, and shedid it well, you know, super
supermodel, super manager and supermanager.She was doing all of the aboves.
Before we leave, please whatever yourpartying thoughts for parents, for students who
might be interested or just on thefence about choosing an HBCU as their place

(15:37):
of going to school, what wouldyou say. Look, we attend so
many events at HBCUs every year.In two weeks, we're going to be
at Elizabeth City, State North Carolina. We're doing this event here. And
what I can say is really importantand what's good about these events or when
high school students come, Because mostof the HBCU presidents will say they can

(16:03):
recruit if the high school students cometo experience what campus life is like,
and you are more inclined to goto a school that's within close proximity to
where you live. So all ofthese schools love to have events like ours
where they can showcase all that HBCUshave to offer. So that's why we

(16:23):
hope tonight further that conversation invites morepeople in to explore the one hundred and
seven different HBCUs across the nation andgo out and attend and getting part of
at halftime show at at football games. That's what we're talking about. Alarm
y'all gotta pay your dudes, thesewhite schools and making it because they Alama

(16:45):
coming up. She's telling it likeit is. That's right, that's right,
all right, Well these schools aresuffering no place. And look you
like toy on that note. Thankyou so much, Thank you so much.

(17:06):
I appreciate it. It was apleasure. I'm Ester Dillard on the
Black Information Network. Wow Yes,where where you come from? Woo and
where you come from