While Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross might have undeniable chemistry on set as Dre and Rainbow, since the premiere of the beloved American sitcom Black-ish on ABC in September 2014 ironically, it hasn’t always been so. In fact, for ten whole years, the actress disliked Anderson.
Recently opening up in a chat with Parade, about the somewhat hilarious reason why his onscreen wife didn’t like him for a really long time, the 51-year-old actor said it all started due to his distasteful fart joke while hosting the Vibe Awards with Ross in 2005.
While the audience enjoyed it, rubbed off Ross bad, but he didn’t know it. In 2011 when the pair worked together again during her show, Anderson noticed Ross would leave the stage every time he came on. This action he thought was due to her having respect for him so she wanted him to have all the attention, but that wasn’t the case as it was actually because she didn’t want to be around him.
Thankfully the pair were able to work it out halfway through the first season of Black-ish and are now closer than ever.
According to Anderson:
“I knew Tracee prior to Black-ish. We laugh about this now, but Tracee didn’t like me for maybe 10 years! We hosted the Vibe Awards [in 2005]. As we were walking onto the stage there was a loud sound over the speaker, and I said, “Tracee? Did you fart?” The audience loved it, but what I did not know is how offended Tracee was by that comment. I remember I did an episode of her show Reed Between the Lines [in 2011] and all of my scenes were with Tracee. And when it came time for my close-up, she would leave the stage like, “The stage is Anthony’s!” I thought Tracee was just showing me the utmost respect as an actor. I was like “Oh, my God, I’ve never been treated like this before! I was a guest star on her show, and she was just giving me her set!” Well, looking back on it, she didn’t want to be around me! She really didn’t start liking me until we were midway through the first season of Black-ish, and so we laugh about it now.
But today, there’s nothing that I would not do for Tracee. We work the same, we learn the same, we are there for one another, and we have the ability to work with such fearlessness when we’re together, because we know that we will never allow the other to fall.”
Lesson learned? Telling an expensive joke at someone else’s expense can have dire consequences.
The eighth and final season of Black-ish premieres today, January 4, 2022.
In 2017, Ross applaudably earned a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role. She recently bagged a Golden Globe nod for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy alongside Issa Rae and Jean Smart.
