Malcolm-Jamal Warner Remembered for His 'Endless Curiosity, His Warmth and His Elegance' in Live Podcast Tribute
- - Malcolm-Jamal Warner Remembered for His 'Endless Curiosity, His Warmth and His Elegance' in Live Podcast Tribute
Carson BlackwelderJuly 26, 2025 at 3:40 AM
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Malcolm-Jamal Warner in April 2023
Malcolm-Jamal Warner may be gone, but he's certainly not forgotten.
The Cosby Show actor was honored during a live episode of his Not All Hood podcast, led by his co-host Candace Kelley, which aired Friday, July 25, nearly a week after his tragic death. Executive producer Layne Fontes and creative director Troy Harris, Jr. joined Kelley to host the event.
During the podcast episode, titled "Malcolm Left the Mic On," Jessica Miesel, who co-starred opposite Warner in The Resident, was among those who remembered the actor. Touré and Latrice Jones also took part.
"I was so struck by his endless curiosity and his warmth and his elegance, but mainly his ability to make me and others feel like an equal. I never felt like he was looking down at anybody else," Miesel said.
She went on to say that this quality was "at his core" and praised his ability to bring laughter to the set of the medical drama.
“His laugh was just one of my favorite sounds in the whole world, and he was the king of adding a button to the end of a scene, you know even doing a serious surgery scene and he would add something completely silly to the end of it," she said.
Miesel shared an Instagram post on Monday, July 21, featuring photos from their time on the series.
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Malcolm-Jamal Warner in February 2020
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Kelley spoke exclusively to PEOPLE after Warner's death about his goal with their podcast and putting together the tribute for him.
Kelley, who had been texting Warner "up until the day before" he drowned on a family vacation in Costa Rica, said she hopes to continue the podcast and Warner's mission of seeing different portrayals of Black people in the media.
"He really was on a mission to make sure that the tropes about the Black community are not continued," Kelley said.
"We'd have these conversations because all the dramas on TV are about gangs and the street and drugs and kingpins," she continued. "But a lot of people don't know that he often turned down a lot of parts in these types of shows. He'd say, 'It's good writing, but it's not a good message.' "
Kelley called their Not All Hood podcast "a continuation" of Warner's legacy from The Cosby Show, on which he played Theo Huxtable, the only son of an upper-middle-class Black family in New York.
"He really, really cared about carrying the torch that he had from The Cosby Show, and that torch was, 'Remember how they see us and do not co-sign,' " she said. "Because we have options and can do better, we can change how we're seen and really in that way change the course of humanity."
Kelley planned the live podcast tribute in the days after Warner's death, saying she had "hundreds of people who just want to share what he meant to them."
In addition to those who loved him from TV, Kelley said Warner was "on fire and adored" in the Atlanta music scene as well. "He'd play a mean bass, sing and do poetry," she explained.
Part of what Kelley said contributed to a massive showing for the live podcast tribute episode was Warner's "other biggest mission, besides his family" which was "just being a good person."
"He wanted to be remembered like that; he has said that, he just wants to be remembered as a good person, and by all accounts, he's got that down," she said. "He really did. That was really sincere."
Author and activist Kimberly Latrice Jones, whom Kelley called a "friend to the show," also offered words about the late Warner. "Making a connection with me was not fleeting for him," Jones said of Warner, who had reached out to her after she shared a viral video in 2020.
She went on to detail Warner's words of support for her as she struggled with seizures as a result of epilepsy.
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(L-R) Tempestt Bledsoe, Bill Cosby, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Phylicia Rashad and Lisa Bonet of 'The Cosby Show'In addition to Kelley and his podcast community, Warner has been remembered throughout Hollywood for his work on and off the screen.
He has been honored by several of his Cosby Show castmates. Warner famously portrayed Theo throughout the series' eight-season run between 1984 and 1992.
Castmates from other shows Warner appeared on have also shared their memories of him, including Tracee Ellis Ross from Reed Between the Lines, Patrick J. Adams from Suits and Emily VanCamp and Morris Chestnut from The Resident, among others.
Santiago Felipe/Getty
Malcolm-Jamal Warner in June 2024Warner's cause of death was determined to be accidental "asphyxiation by submersion."
Warner died at the age of 54 and is survived by his wife and his daughter.
The Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) confirmed the cause of death to PEOPLE on July 22, the same day the autopsy was completed on Warner. Costa Rican National Police formally identified Warner on July 20. They revealed the following day that the actor's cause of death was ruled as the result of drowning, pending the autopsy report.
The OIJ told PEOPLE on July 24 in a statement that Warner's daughter was not in the water with him when he drowned.
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