Jaleel White remembers late Malcolm-Jamal Warner after making abstinence rap video years ago: 'At a loss for words'

Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who died Sunday in an accidental drowning while on a family vacation to Costa Rica, was beloved by younger actor Jaleel White.

“Malcolm and I were industry peers,” White told Extra at the premiere of Happy Gilmore 2, when asked what the 54-year-old had meant to him. "I mean, really, I can't even say that. Like, I grew up looking up to him. He was ahead of me in the game. I'm kind of waiting for more details to come out because it was just a very disturbing report, just accidentally this — you kind of caught me at a loss for words."

White, 48, noted that he's still looking back at his memories of their time together following Warner's unexpected death. They had a mutual acquaintance in the late actress Michelle Thomas, who appeared on both Warner's The Cosby Show and White's Family Matters. Thomas died of cancer in December 1998 at age 30.

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty

Michelle Thomas and Malcolm-Jamal Warner pictured in 1992

"Malcolm was the first former child actor that my mother even let me go out with late at night past 11 p.m., and I had a very close relationship with both him and Michelle Thomas," White said. "May they both rest in peace."

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The actor best known as Steve Urkel gave context to his relationship with Warner in his 2024 memoir, Growing Up Urkel.

White recalled that when Thomas first joined Family Matters, as Urkel's girlfriend Myra Monkhouse, she had been dating Warner.

"Malcolm would visit the set from time to time, and on one given night after a live audience taping, Malcolm and Michelle invited me to join them at a music-industry party that went late into the evening. Off I went into the back seat of Malcolm's Mercedes as a happy third wheel. It never dawned on me to drink a drop of liquor that evening, as my mother would be waiting up for me the moment I walked in the door. Just being out late at night, feeling grown and independent was memory enough."

He wrote, too, that his mother and Malcolm's become friends, which could be why White's mother allowed his late night out with the celebrity that he "admired." It was also how he was wrangled into helping Warner find a younger celebrity to rap in a project he was working on.

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"Now, I loved hip-hop as much as the next kid," White said, "but promoting abstinence through corporate-backed rap wasn't the best image for me, ya know? Still, there was no way to back out of this favor my mom had agreed to. My mom had given her word, and I showed up. I was dressed in a black button-down with high-waisted slacks, and a brightly colored Nicole Miller tie. I wore my everyday prescription glasses, and I did as I was directed by Malcolm."

In his book, White lamented that he "was not ready for this video to live in infamy on the internet for eternity with no positive affect on my image or my pockets, but you live and you learn."

And, yes, it's still around.

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"While I'm certainly an advocate for safe sex, this dude had me rapping about straight-up abstinence as a horny 11th-grade boy," White wrote. "My mother had groomed me into being such a dedicated people pleaser I was capable of complete performances that went against my own values."

But the experience didn't appear to have dimmed White's view of Warner.

In his new interview, White asked that Warner be remembered for more than the iconic work he did in his younger years. He had gone on to continue acting, though he had also directed, hosted a podcast, wrote poetry, and created music.

"So," White said, "please remember him as a poet, a Grammy award-winning musician, and an actor who did a lot more than just star on a sitcom when he was a kid."

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