Netflix will soon bring a new iteration of A Different World to audiences, which Saturday Night Live comic Michael Che finds kind of laughable.
Last week the streaming service announced new details about the sequel series, including its main cast, and the number of episodes.
The comedy will carry the same name as the original series about life at a historically Black college. The original sitcom was a spinoff of The Cosby Show.
By now, we all know Bill Cosby ended up getting accused of sexual assault (and worse) by more than 60 women. He eventually went to prison — before being released on a technicality.
Related: Lenny Kravitz Claims Bill Cosby Fired Pregnant Lisa Bonet From ‘A Different World’
Last night Cosby and Netflix’s new show — which have no connection — made it into SNL‘s “Weekend Update.”
“Netflix is producing a sequel to the 1990s Cosby Show spinoff A Different World about students at an HBCU, which of course stands for ‘Help! Bill Cosby’s undressing,” Michael Che said to laughter.
On Nov. 10, Netflix announced Maleah Joi Moon (Hell’s Kitchen) will lead the cast of the sequel as Deborah, youngest child of original characters Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert.
The series will follow Deborah as she starts her first year at fictional HBCU Hillman College, and tries to escape her parents’ shadow.
The comedy comes from Felicia Pride (Grey’s Anatomy and Queen Sugar) and original director-producer Debbie Allen (Grey’s Anatomy and A Different World).
Original writers Reggie Rock Bythewood and wife Gina Prince-Bythewood have joined the sequel as executive producers.
So far there’s no premiere date.
There’s also been no public reaction from Cosby. In 2018, the comedian was convicted in a Pennsylvania retrial for drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004.
Constand told jurors Cosby gave her three blue pills that left her unable to move. She said the comedian then assaulted her as she lay immobilized.
A judge sentenced him to three to 10 years in state prison, but he was released in 2021, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction. The court said prosecutors committed misconduct when they tried the case, and cited a “non-prosecution agreement” struck years earlier between Cosby and a former district attorney.
At the time, Cosby Show alum Phylicia Rashad praised the court’s decision.
“A terrible wrong is being righted – a miscarriage of justice is corrected!” she posted on X, then called Twitter.
Rashad quickly deleted the post amid massive backlash. That same day, she shared a new statement.
“I fully support survivors of sexual assault coming forward. My post was in no way intended to be insensitive to their truth. Personally, I know from friends and family that such abuse has lifelong residual effects. My heartfelt wish is for healing,” she clarified in a post that remains on her X account.
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