If you ever happen to meet Alfonso Ribeiro, make sure you don’t ask him to do the Carlton dance from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, because he hates being asked to do the Carlton dance from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. To be fair, he’s been doing the dance from the TV series since 1991, so it’s understandable that the actor is a bit fed up of the requests by now.
Ribeiro, who played Carlton Banks on the hit comedy series, has become an iconic sitcom character thanks largely to the dance he performs on the show. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, of course, starred Will Smith, and was one of the best ’90s TV shows.
Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Ribeiro explained how he is constantly asked by random people in the street to “do the dance,” and how he really doesn’t understand why anyone would ask him that. When you think about it, it is pretty weird to go up to a complete stranger and ask them to dance for you, but that’s the world we live in, I guess.
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna ask you to do the dance. You must want to to kill people when they ask you to do that, right?” Kimmel asked Ribeiro during the talk show interview.
“I wouldn’t say kill, but I definitely don’t love it as much as they do. I typically get asked to do that dance pretty much every day of my life, if I go outside,” Ribeiro responded. “If I go anywhere, I just randomly hear people [shout] ‘Do the dance.'”
“The weird part for me is trying to understand what’s happening in their head, like what makes you think you’re gonna ask a random person to dance for you and they’re just gonna be like, ‘Oh my god I’ve been waiting for you to ask,'” Ribeiro added. “I don’t get it, it’s not gonna happen.”
If you want your Fresh Prince kicks, why not check out the modern reboot of the TV series. We have all the info on how to watch Bel-Air and what streaming services the show is available on.