Family Matters Star Jaleel White Speaks For First Time About Mentor Bill Cosby’s Prison Sentence

In an interview with TV One’s Uncensored (h/t Entertainment Weekly), Jaleel White, who famously played Steve Urkel on Family Matters, spoke for the first time about having a falling out with his former mentor, comedy legend Bill Cosby.

White initially met Cosby because he auditioned for the role of Rudy on The Cosby Show (the character was originally supposed to be a boy). White didn’t get the role, but did end up becoming close to Cosby.

“I fostered a relationship with Mr. Cosby, separate and apart,” he said. “Many dinners at his house, breakfasts, I even ran into a rough patch, and he’s directly responsible for why I ended up at William Morris Agency, which became an education unto itself.”

White added that he did end up having a falling out with Cosby, but wouldn’t say what the falling out was over.

“I actually had a bit of a falling out with Mr. Cosby. I kept that to myself,” White said.

As for Cosby currently serving time in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting a former Temple University employee in 2004, White said that Cosby is paying the “appropriate price.”

“Knocking off these monuments who are still human beings, it’s tough. And you go back in time, and you realize how close you were to something, and you put yourself in rooms where you realize his wife wasn’t there, that woman was probably there for that purpose. You know, it’s a hell of a hindsight thing to look at, and you don’t want anyone to feel like you’re trying to use them for clout. You know what I’m saying? A revered man did terrible things, and he’s paying the price. I think that’s where we leave it: A revered man did a terrible thing, and he is paying the appropriate price.”