Janet Hubert Backtracks Saying She 'Respects' Jada Pinkett Smith Despite Clashing Over Oscars Controversy

Although they may butt heads when it comes to the #OscarsSoWhite debate, Janet Hubert says she still respects Jada Pinkett Smith.

"I respect Jada highly," Hubert says in an exclusive clip from The Real, obtained by Entertainment Tonight. "I respect her skill, I respect her as an artist, I respect her as an actress, very much."

As the hosts of the talk show point out the fact that Smith and Hubert share a similarity, in the sense that both women pointed a diversity issue, the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air star agrees that's true, but reminds the hosts that the issue didn't begin this year.



"There's been a diversity issue – years and years and years ago. This didn't just start this year," the actress, 60, adds. "This started way back when the Oscars first came in. It wasn't created for us, by us.

"We can do our own thing, definitely."

In January, Hubert called out Smith for her suggested boycott of this year's Academy Awards, accusing Smith of asking other actors of color to "jeopardize their career," by skipping the awards show.

"There's a lot of s--- going on in the world that you all don't seem to recognize. People are dying," Hubert said in a four-minute video she shared at the time. "Our boys are being shot left and right. People are starving. People are trying to pay bills. And you're talking about some mother---ing actors and Oscars. It just ain't that deep.

"I find it ironic that somebody who has made their living, and made millions and millions of dollars from the very people you're talking about boycotting just because you didn't get a nomination, just because you didn't win."

Smith later responded to the critical comments, telling ET that her proposed boycott wasn't "really about the Oscars" as much as it was about "all communities and people of color [taking] back our power."