August 1, 2025
‘And they wanted us to have a different father…like a Danny Glover type, and we was like, No.’
In an interview, Marlon Wayans revealed that John Witherspoon was initially rejected for the role of “Pops” on The Wayans Bros.
In an interview with Keke Palmer on the Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast, Wayans recalled that at one point, NBC executives thought Witherspoon’s character was “too ghetto” for the potential audience.
“We did a table reading, and they thought, Witherspoon’s character, ‘Pops, ‘ was too ghetto. And they wanted us to have a different father…like a Danny Glover type, and we was like, ‘No.’”
The network preferred a more tamed character to play the father of Shawn and Marlon Wayans. The creatives refused, which led them to sign with The WB. The show became the flagship property for the young network.
“We was like ‘Wait, hold on, Danny Glover, you say?’ But then, the WB was starting, and it was like, ‘I think that’s a great combination.’ So, everything is God. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and it’s not about the doors that close; it’s the ones that open up.”
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Luckily, the NBC’s critiques did not lead to content changes on the show. Witherspoon’s character became beloved by many. The Wayans Bros. ran from 1995 to May 1999 on the WB. After five seasons, the show went into syndication. As the younger Wayans said, the character of “Pops” had “the flavor.”
To this day, many of his scenes and monologues have made their way into the cultural consciousness.
Marlon praised Witherspoon, who died in 2019 at age 77, as more than a comic: “He was family. He was honest. He made people laugh the way we all needed.”
After the success of the show, Shawn and Marlon Wayans became Hollywood royalty with the success of the Scary Movie franchise. Marlon Wayans will star in the September horror film, Him, produced by Jordan Peele.
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