Everybody Hates Chris was a sitcom based on the early life of comedy legend Chris Rock. The series burst onto the small screen in September 2005, commanding an audience of 7.8 million viewers with its debut episode. 2w3b6s

Tyler James Williams starred as the delightfully nerdy Chris, a 13-year-old African American boy growing up in a close-knit family in gritty Bedford-Stuyvesant. At his mother’s behest, the youngster takes the bus across town to attend all-white Corleone Junior High School, where he receives a good education but is intermittently bullied and isolated. The show’s unique perspective and stellar cast quickly connected with a loyal fanbase and won critical acclaim. Fans were baffled when the show suddenly ended after four seasons. Questions still linger as to why, but as it turns out, the answer might surprise you.

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A decline in ratings was the catalyst for the cancellation of Everybody Hates Chris. As viewership fell, The CW moved the show from primetime on Thursdays to the Friday night time slot of doom in its fourth season. 

Faced with decreasing engagement, the show’s creator, Chris Rock, requested the cancellation of Everybody Hates Chris. He sought to maintain the show’s integrity and high creative standards by going out a proverbial high. It was a move echoed a decade later by Jesse Armstrong, who opted to end the hit HBO series Succession in its fourth season. Everybody Hates Chris took its final bow after four successful seasons and 88 episodes of classic television.

Fans of were not very pleased about its cancellation, especially as it ended on a cliffhanger that left them wanting more.

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Everybody Hates Chris premiered the same year as The Big Bang Theory and Ugly Betty. Television networks were finally investing in narratives that resonated with stories about the underdogs. The niche was a refreshing departure from the shallow materialism of MTV’s The Hills. Everybody Hates Chris stood out because of its substance. It audaciously made the case that healthy, nourishing family bonds are the greatest of life’s treasures.

The series explored themes of race, class, and coming-of-age with humor and grace, while other shows studiously avoided these pressing topics. The foundation of love, kindness, and respect Chris’s parents shared and instilled in their children helped them navigate the challenge of being Black in America. The show wasn’t trying to awaken the restless consumer in its viewers. Instead, it encouraged self-acceptance, authenticity, and stability rooted in the solid ground of heartfelt loved ones. With its substantive messages, it’s no wonder that Everybody Hates Chris remains a cultural touchstone.

Everybody Hates Chris is a rare gem in the landscape of television sitcoms. It tells the story of a child who was routinely ill-treated at school because of his race. It showed how a loving family and a loyal friend helped him persevere through adversity. The show is so well written and performed with such finesse that there was never a need to resort to gimmicks to make each episode entertaining.

Young Chris did not have to become a superhero or live a life of luxury to be lovable. It’s a powerful and necessary reminder for young people who are inundated with misleading messages that undermine their self-esteem. There is something wonderfully wholesome about how Chris’s family cherished him. It helped him walk into Corleone Junior High School, knowing he was enough even if his peers couldn’t see it. His family’s unwavering love saw him through until the rest of the world finally caught up with them and came to love with Chris Rock.

Everybody Hates Chris is an award-winning CW sitcom that premiered in 2005 and ran until 2009. Chris Rock and Ali LeRoi found inspiration in the comedian’s childhood to create a television series about a nerdy African American teenager from a close-knit family growing up in the then-crime-ridden Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn while traveling across town to study and navigate the social hierarchy at the all-white Corleone Junior High School in the 1980s. Young Chris experiences isolation until he befriends fellow geek Greg (Vincent Martella).

With an animated reboot of Everybody Hates Chris coming to Comedy Central and Paramount Plus soon, it’s time to catch up with the stellar cast of the original show and see what they are up to today.

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After the success of his semi-autobiographical TV show, Chris Rock continued to be a force in the entertainment industry. The Saturday Night Live alum continued to act, starring in films like Death at a Funeral, Top Five, The Week Of, and Amsterdam. Rock made his Broadway debut in the play The Motherf-r with the Hat in 2011. He also appeared on the small screen on Empire, Kevin Can Wait, and Fargo. 

Over the years, Rock has hosted the Academy Awards several times. In 2022, he was attacked on stage by Academy Award-winning actor Will Smith. A year later, the comedian roasted Smith in the Netflix stand-up comedy special, Selective Outrage, which rocketed to Netflix’s Top 10 Most Watched charts.

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Tyler James Williams captured the hearts of a generation of young Chris on the popular CW sitcom. After the show, the actor moved from one strength to another, starring in the musical film Let It Shine in 2012 and the hit AMC series The Walking Dead as Noah from 2014 to 2015. 

Today, Williams plays Gregory Eddie on the acclaimed ABC sitcom Abbott Elementary, for which he won the 2023 Golden Globe Award for Best ing Actor – Television Series and received two nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards.

He has also appeared on the silver screen in films like Detroit and The United States vs. Billie Holiday. Williams’ acting talent continues to prove that his early success on Everybody Hates Chris was just the beginning.

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Terry Crews shone in the role of Julius Rock, the hardworking and dedicated patriarch on Everybody Hates Chris. After the show, he starred in the reality TV series The Family Crews. He later won the role of Terry Jeffords in the hit sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which lasted from 2013 to 2021. Crews published his autobiography, Manhood: How to Be a Better Man or Just Live with One in 2014. He also appeared on the big screen in Blended, Rumble, and the blockbuster Expendables franchise. The charismatic star became the host of the popular gameshows Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and America’s Got Talent. 

Crews also became an influential activist during the #MeToo movement when he revealed he was sexually assaulted in 2016. The courage of his vulnerable disclosure and his robust for other survivors of sexual abuse saw him awarded the prestigious 2017 Person of the Year feature by Time Magazine.

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Tichina Arnold was unforgettable as Rochelle, the firm yet loving mother on Everybody Hates Chris. In 2014, she appeared in the Chris Rock film Top Five and The Main Event on Netflix. Arnold appeared in other sitcoms, playing the role of Judi Mann opposite Fran Drescher in Happily Divorced and Cassie Calloway in Survivors Remorse. Since 2018, she has played Tina Butler in The Neighborhood.

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After playing Drew, Chris’ little brother, Tequan Richmond continued to have a successful career as a television actor. He starred as TJ Ashford on the soap opera ABC’s General Hospital from 2012 to 2018. Before he became a member of the Everybody Hates Chris cast, Richmond played young Ray Charles Jr. in the Academy Award-winning biopic Ray. The North Carolina native returned to the silver screen in 2013 as Beltway sniper Lee Boyd Malvo in Blue Caprice. He also appeared on popular shows like Numbers, Weeds, and Private Practice. Richmond starred as Bryson on BET’s Boomerang from 2018 to 2019.

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After playing Tonya, the little sister of Chris, Imani Hakim starred as Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas in the Lifetime film The Gabby Douglas Story in 2014. She’s also appeared on the big screen in Chocolate City and Burning Sands. Today, Imani co-stars as game tester Dana Bryant on the hit Apple TV comedy series Mythic Quest.

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Vincent Martella played adorable geek Greg Wuliger on Everybody Hates Chris. He has forged a successful career as a voice actor after the show ended. Martella played Phineas Flynn on the animated series Phineas and Ferb from 2007 to 2015 on Disney. He is also the voice of Hope Estheim in Final Fantasy XIII. 

Martella voices Jason Todd/Robin in the animated DCEU films Batman: Under the Red Hood and Batman: Death in the Family. He also played Patrick on the fourth season of The Walking Dead, which starred his former co-star Tyler James Williams.

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It’s heartwarming to see that the talented cast of Everybody Hates Chris is enjoying continued success. From acting to activism, the sitcom was a launchpad for each actor to make their mark. 

Tyler James Williams is hitting back against gay stereotypes for Pride Month. Williams took to Instagram to speak up about the harm these stereotypes perpetuate against the LGBT+ community. Williams’ message is the result of fans speculating about his orientation. Apparently, some of the Abbott Elementary star’s mannerisms were enough for Williams’ attractions to be called into question.

Williams posted two slides explaining his view to his Instagram stories, addressing the speculation head-on while also taking a stand for gay rights.

Williams went on to warn that speculating about someone’s sexuality based on their presentation can be damaging to closeted LGBT+ people, who may be anxious about whether or not they can be clocked by the wrong person. He also pointed out that straight men are also harmed by these stereotypes because it limits their personal expression. In fact, Williams said that reinforcing these stereotypes is “oftentimes unrealistic, less free, and limits individual expressing.”

He signed off his message by wishing a Happy Pride to all of his “queer and questioning brothers, sisters, and individuals,” before reiterating his allyship, stating that his goal was to help “cultivate a future where we are all accepted and given permission to be ourselves.”

In a time when LGBT+ people are actively being legislated against, Williams’ point is unfortunately all-too-needed. Outing an LGBT+ person – even speculating about their sexuality – can be downright dangerous. That danger is also not solely limited to those within community; if a straight person does not adhere to gender norms, they might find themselves the target of homophobia or transphobia as well. Bigotry isn’t rational. Hatred is all-consuming. It’s worthwhile to that.

It seems that many have forgotten the struggles that LGBT+ people had to go through to gain the rights they currently have, which is silly. Gay marriage was only legalized back in 2015, even though California had banned gay marriage as recently as 2008, and, again, LGBT+ people are still being legislated against. Corporations are turning away from Pride in droves – it might not have been the most influential or positive thing a company could have done for the community, but the absence of its embrace this year is a worrying barometer for public opinions on the LGBT+ community.

Having public figures like Williams stand up and speak out against unacceptable behavior is exactly what’s needed at this moment (as if fans didn’t have more reason to love Abbott Elementary).

The Tyler James Williams renaissance, as it should be so dubbed, has been a welcome reprieve for fans of the actor that have been watching him since the early 2000s. But, the Abbott Elementary star has another talent, which the internet has rediscovered, and things are… getting hot, to say the least.

Williams, who plays Gregory on ABC’s hit sitcom, took to Sway in the Morning to talk about the show before Sway put him to the freestyle test as is custom on the radio segment. Over the beat of Kendrick Lamar’s “HUMBLE.”, Williams proves he’s not just a thespian — he’s an undeniable rap machine.

Now, the lyrics of his freestyle are far, far, far too explicit to share here, and definitely not appropriate for the hallowed halls of Abbott, but people online have listened closely and, let’s just say they aren’t the same person before clicking play.

Many people first saw Williams as the star of Everybody Hates Chris, but it is safe to say no one is hating him now.

Some special few among us knew he had this in him all along, harkening back to his starring role on Disney Channel’s original 2012 film Let It Shine, where Williams played a shy up-and-coming rapper.

Makes you wonder why Janine, played by Quinta Brunson on Abbott Elementary, was ever with her less-than-ideal rapper ex-boyfriend Tariq when she could have had this?!

But, look, no-one tell Ava…

Abbott Elementary airs every Wednesday night on ABC at 9pm ET.