Tichina Arnold addressed Ari Lennox’s idea that jokes about her character Pam on the sitcom Martin were rooted in colorism on Wednesday’s episode of Deon Cole’s Funny Knowing You podcast.

What did Tichina Arnold say about Ari Lennox’s comments?

During the interview, Cole noted that some people confuse television with real life and referenced the singer’s comments, referring to her only by her first name, before Arnold interjected and corrected him.

“Oh, uh, Ari Lennox, the colorism thing where she felt like Martin was bagging on me because I was brown — because I was brown-skinned and because she was a brown-skinned girl. And I have heard this story,” Arnold, 56, said.

Both Cole and Arnold said they love Lennox and her music, with the legendary actor delving more into Lennox’s remarks.

“I don’t know her personally, but I like her music and I met her one time when I was hosting Soul Train. I understand completely what she was trying — what she said. And I get it. She did do a disclaimer saying that she is like, uh, a s**t-starter, I guess. Like, you know, she does cause controversy. I get it. But we’ve already moved past that,” she said.

Arnold says this is why ‘Martin’ jokes about Pam were revised

The Queens native also revealed some surprising details about Pam’s character on the show.

“This is a little backstory. ‘Pam’ was originally for a heavy-set girl. So, all the jokes on my audition were fat jokes. So, I’m literally auditioning, saying, with fat jokes, right? They ended up changing it when I got the role, obviously, ’cause that’s when my body was banging. I was thin. I was like, ‘Yeah, what’s y’all doing with these jokes? ’Cause yeah, what’s happening? I’m not getting fat. I’m not. That’s not gonna happen,’” Arnold said.

She continued, “So, what happened was they ended up changing the jokes, but we would — like when I tell you — if you were around on Martin days and on that set, all the funny really happened when those cameras weren’t rolling. When I tell you, we would call — it was bad. Like, the way we used to crack.”

‘It had nothing to do with color’

Arnold then mentioned that she was quick to respond to Lawrence’s jokes and that it became a thing between them.

“It was never, ever, ever came from a brown-skinned thing. It came — it started when I really had beady beads in the back of my head,” she said.

“I was like, ‘Daaamn.’ So, that’s when he got me, ’cause he started cracking on the back [of my head]. So, they started incorporating. Anything he and I did off the set, they would — it would be in the script. And then, once the cameras start rolling with him, you don’t know what the hell’s going to come out of his mouth. So, I’ll just be waiting for it. I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna get him.’ So, we would go back and forth. So, it was out of love. It was out of just, that’s what we did. It had nothing to do with color,” Arnold added.

Arnold’s message to Lennox, and Lennox’s original comments explained

After rejecting claims of colorism, Arnold had a message for Lennox.

“Ari, we understand how you feel. It wasn’t meant that. And so, maybe, Ari, you need to talk to your friends and the people that you were around during that time who made you feel that way. Somebody, maybe in your family or friends, somebody may have done or said something to you, which allowed you to look at things a little differently and not receive them in the spirit that they were given,” she said.

According to BET, Lennox shared her remarks back in July about how the jokes against Pam bothered her as a fellow brown-skinned woman.

“The thing that pissed me off about Martin was how much he was goin’ in on Pam,” Lennox, 34, said at the time, emphasizing how Pam was “so f**king beautiful and so fine,” but the jokes made it challenging to appreciate her.

Watch the full episode below:

Funny Knowing You podcast

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