Jaleel White says "I was never invited to the Emmys, even to present" when he was starring in Family Matters

To be fair, I think Fred Savage was a bigger star. Unfortunately, Urkel was the star not Jaleel. People didn't want to get to know Jaleel since they loved Urkel. When you have such an iconic character like that then people fall in love with that character. And its like ah Jaleel he's just a regular guy. And I know white celebrities have dealt with the same thing. Where they're met in public and asked to repeat a famous line or something, as if they're not real people or just there for someone's entertainment. And they're like, you know I've done other things than just that character, right? They're basically asked to repeat that line for people all the time. So its not something unique to being black.

I've also heard Raven Simone on his show and she was very bitter over what she perceived as race discrimination. She was really bitter towards the Olsen twins for all the success they had as child stars with straight to video movies and all that. Idk how you can compare yourself to a set of twins who were equally cute and equally talented.

It seems race is always brought up when talking about what went wrong in their careers or why they didn't achieve much more. Like I know Jaleel complained about him pitching a TV show or movie idea and not being given the time of day from Disney.. he basically said it was because he was black.

The Wonder Years was nominated for multiple Emmy's every year it was on. Including Fred Savage who was nominated twice for best lead actor.

Family Matters had 1 nomination late in its run, for visual effects.

Fred Savage was already fairly well known when the Wonder Years started. The Princess Bride was in 87, and he was a lead in Vice Versa in '88, which was the same year the show started. Add in The Wizard and Little Monsters which were early in the shows run, and I think it was pretty understandable how Savage ended up being invited many times.

Jaleel White was practically unknown prior to Family Matters, and even when he got casted in that he wasn't supposed to have a big part or be the lead. And aside from voice over work, he didn't do much else during it.

Not saying he's 100% wrong, but he's barking up the wrong tree by bring up Fred Savage. Maybe he should ask his agents and managers why they never got him invited to the Emmy's.

A pity Jaleel doesn't realize that the Emmy's (and pretty much every other useless show biz award) is only given based on what a tiny club of snobs from the Hollywood Elite like, not what the people like. It goes beyond racism towards black people. "Family Matters" was not appealing to black people at all. I have yet to meet a black person who happily watched it. They didn't like how "white" the family behaved, or how it was about a family that actually had morals and scruples and a strong moral compass (most of the time). They liked shows like "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "The Parkers," "Moesha," and "Different Strokes." That, and Steve Urkel, despite being a funny, lovable character, was just as annoying as he was lovable. It's very possible the Emmy awards committee didn't like Family Matters or Jaleel White himself, which is why they wouldn't invite him at all. It was never about his skills as an actor or the success of the show.