Will Smith Once Rejected a RuPaul Cameo on 'The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air': New Book

"I remember him saying that would be a really bad idea," executive producer David Steven Simon says in Thea Glassman's new book, 'Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television'

Will Smith allegedly passed up an opportunity to have up-and-coming drag queen, RuPaul, make an appearance on his '90s breakout series, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

The 54-year-old actor had been mulling over some ideas about an upcoming episode with executive producer David Steven Simon when the idea came into play, according to journalist Thea Glassman's new book, Freaks, Gleeks, and Dawson's Creek: How Seven Teen Shows Transformed Television.

Glassman notes that Smith wasn't known for rejecting ideas, but when Simon suggested a cameo from RuPaul, who was just hitting mainstream music with the dance track "Supermodel (You Better Work)," he said no.

“I remember him saying that would be a really bad idea," Simon recalls in the book. "And I said, ‘No, listen, hear my story—’" the book continues.

According to the book, Simon remembers Smith not backing down and continuing to say having the drag queen on the show was a "bad idea."

Related: Will Smith Reunites with Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Cast: 'You Guys Are My Second Family'

"OK, OK. We don’t need to do it,'" Simon recalls eventually telling Smith.

The producer notes that, from his perspective, “The reason he would say no is because of his image. Period. The End."

A rep for Smith did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

Fresh Prince, which premiered in 1990, followed Smith's character, Will, after his mom sent him away from Philadelphia to live with his Uncle Phil in the wealthy neighborhood of Bel-Air.

The series — which also starred Alfonso Ribeiro, James Avery, Janet Hubert, Tatyana Ali, Karyn Parsons, Joseph Marcell, Daphne Maxwell Reid and DJ Jazzy Jeff — ran for six seasons before ending in 1996.

In November 2020, the cast — including Smith, Ali, Parsons, Marcell, Reid and Ribeiro — reunited at the show's iconic living room set for an emotional and hilarious reunion thirty years after its debut. The special featured the cast discussing their family bond, both on- and off-screen, and the lasting impact of the NBC sitcom.

Related: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: 5 Standout Moments from the Reunion Special

Meanwhile, RuPaul — whose real name is RuPaul Andre Charles — was starting to make it big in the early '90s after making the video for his 1992 dance track “Supermodel (You Better Work)."

Though he never made a guest appearance on Fresh Prince, he did launch a radio show and a VH1 talk show, The RuPaul Show, but it was canceled in 1998.

His iconic reality competition series, RuPaul's Drag Race, didn't debut until 2009 but has since become a mega-hit with 15 seasons and several international variants of the show and won 27 Emmy Awards. RuPaul has also cemented himself as a drag icon, even being dubbed the "Queen of Drag."

Related: Inside RuPaul's Surprising Journey to 'Drag Race' Fame

Though a crossover with RuPaul never happened in the '90s, Fresh Prince costars Tatyana Ali and Karyn Parsons did cross paths with RuPaul in 2022 when Ali, 44, competed on RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race.

"I think later in my life I'll be able to look at this experience, the creation of Chakra 7 and just being immersed, even for a short time, in a world of drag art and say, 'Oh, this was my career before and this is my career after,' because I never really had anonymity," Ali, who competed as Chakra 7, told PEOPLE at the time. "People have always known my name since I was very, very little — and to be fearless in art when people know you so well, it's hard. I'm human. I wish I was superhuman and it didn't matter. But it does. Behind Chakra 7, I could just do things that Tatyana Ali would never do."

Ali continued, "Chakra 7 allowed me this freedom. Now that door has been opened, I'm not going backwards. I'm not going backwards."

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Ali also said having Parsons's support as she competed on Celebrity Drag Race, a period in time that required her to explore an entirely new side of herself, was "more an example of how close we are."

"I could trust sharing something that was really experimental for me," she said. "Chakra was really experimental. It's something new. I've never done anything like that before."

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