Alfonso Ribeiro says he wants people to stop asking him to dance the Carlton
The actor said, "I'm not a dancing puppet."
— -- It's been over 20 years since Alfonso Ribeiro played Carlton Banks on the hit 1990s sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air."
While Ribeiro said he's honored "people loved something that [he] was a part of," the actor wants people to stop asking him to dance the iconic Carlton.
"I get asked to do the dance every day I leave the house," Ribeiro, 46, told ABC News. "So the only day in my life where I'm not going to get asked to do that dance is if I stay home."
Ribeiro said at times he laughs off people's dance requests, but to him, it's not that funny.
"Some days I'm in a good mood, and some days I'm not in as good of a mood," Ribeiro explained. "And I might have a nice comeback for them."
"Every once in a while, I will say to people — when I'm just, like, in a bad mood, I'm like, 'You do realize you just asked a black man to dance for you, right?'" he said. "And they're like, 'No, no! I didn't mean it that way!'"
He continued, "And I'm like, "'Nah! I'm just messing with you. I'm just messing with you. But I just wanted you to think about it for a second. Just for one second!'"
According to Ribeiro, portraying Carlton Banks on the show, about a rich black family living in Beverly Hills, was a "blessing and curse."
"I never want to take away their enjoyment of the moment," he said. "But ... I'm not a dancing puppet. We're not going to be actually dancing for people all day long."
Ribeiro suggested to fans that instead of asking him to dance, "you can just sit there and not ask. And it will be the same reality, because I ain't dancing for you."
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