Tichina Arnold, who plays “Pamela James” on Martin Lawrence‘s hit 90s sitcom ‘Martin,’ is shutting down singer Ari Lennox‘s claims of “Martin’s” jokes about “Pam” being rooted in colorism.
Ari Lennox Alleges Colorism Embedded In 90s Sitcom ‘Martin,’ Still Bothered By Martin’s Jokes About Pam
In August, Ari Lennox spoke out after receiving backlash for criticizing the “colorist” “Pam” jokes on ‘Martin.’ Lennox claimed the jokes “Martin” made about “Pam” still pisses her off today. She claimed, “It’s just some things where I draw the line and it just bothered me.” She explained:
“The thing that pissed me off about Martin was how much he was goin’ in on Pam and this is coming from a girl who loves a joking a** movie and even when the joking movie is like ‘Damn, that was f**ked up.’ There are some things where I draw the line. Pam was so f**king beautiful and so fine and I just feel like growing up as a chocolate girl, I don’t even know if I was able to understand the greatness of Pam.”
Despite receiving backlash for her critical comments about the iconic show, Lennox doubled down on her stance. However, she did also clarify that she had no ill intent, just sharing her opinion. A few days later, she then shared her criticism of Bernie Mac’s stand up jokes. She claimed some of his special jokes made her feel uncomfortable. She again received backlash.
Tichina Arnold Shuts Down Ari Lennox’s Colorism Claims About ‘Martin’ Jokes: ‘It Had Nothing To Do With Color, It Started When I Had Beady Beads In The Back Of My Head’
While appearing on the December 31 episode of Deon Cole‘s ‘Funny Knowing You‘ podcast, Tichina Arnold set the record straight about Ari Lennox’s alleging “Martin” made “colorist” jokes about “Pam.” As Cole brought up the situation, trying to remember Lennox’s name, Arnold quickly recalled and said:
“Oh, uh, Ari Lennox, the colorism thing where she felt like Martin was bagging on me because I was brown—because I was brown-skinned and because she was a brown-skinned girl. And I have heard this story.”
After a brief awkward moment, Lennox and Cole clarified that they both love Lennox and her music, and hope she doesn’t become made with them. Arnold continued to share:
“I don’t know her personally, but I like her music and I met her one time when I was hosting Soul Train. I understand completely what she was trying—what she said. And I get it. She did do a disclaimer saying that she is like, uh, a sh*t-starter, I guess. Like, you know, she does cause controversy. I get it. But we’ve already moved past that, and Martin never, ever…
So, this is a little backstory. ‘Pam’ was originally for a heavy-set girl. So, all the jokes on my audition were fat jokes. So, I’m literally auditioning, saying, with fat jokes, right? They ended up changing it when I got the role, obviously, ‘cause that’s when my body was banging. I was thin. I was like, ‘Yeah, what’s y’all doing with these jokes? ‘Cause yeah, what’s happening? I’m not getting fat. I’m not. That’s not gonna happen.’
So, what happened was they ended up changing the jokes, but we would—like when I tell you—if you were around on Martin days and on that set, all the funny really happened when those cameras weren’t rolling. When I tell you, we would call—it was bad. Like, the way we used to crack.
So, I used to be around a lot of gay men as well. So, my reads and my cracks were quick. Oh, I was like, ‘doo, doo, doo, doo, doo.’ It was bad. And it was vicious. Oh, it was bad. Like, we used to crack to hurt you. ‘I’m going to take you down.’ ‘You’re not going to say another joke for a whole week.’ ‘I’m going to shut you up a whole week.’
So, that’s how it was. I mean, you know, just, we had a blast. So, Martin and I ended up—cause he said something to me when we weren’t even working. And I cracked back at him and he looked and I was like, ‘Yeah, you didn’t think I—oh yeah, I’m not just an actor. You got me all the way messed up.’
So, they just started. So, the writers would see it. He had a bunch of his boys around, helping pump up the scripts and stuff and pump him up, and they just started incorporating. So, it was never, ever, ever came from a brown-skinned thing. It came—it started when I really had beady beads in the back of my head. I never knew I had pepper balls. We call them pepper balls. I didn’t know I had pepper balls in the back of my head. ‘Cause like, you know, you do your hair and that’s my problem. I stopped perming my hair. My mom called it pepper balls.
So, I was like, ‘Daaamn.’ So, that’s when he got me, ‘cause he started cracking on the back [of my head]. So, they started incorporating. Anything he and I did off the set, they would—it would be in the script. And then, once the cameras start rolling with him, you don’t know what the hell’s going to come out of his mouth. So, I’ll just be waiting for it. I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna get him.’ So, we would go back and forth. So, it was out of love. It was out of just, that’s what we did. It had nothing to do with color.
Ari, we understand how you feel. It wasn’t meant that. And so, maybe Ari, you need to talk to your friends and the people that you were around during that time, who made you feel that way. Somebody maybe in your family or friends, somebody may have done or said something to you, which allowed you to look at things a little differently and not receive them in the spirit that they were given.”
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