Family Matters star JoMarie Payton alleges Jaleel White once tried to fight her on set

Entertainment Tonight

The actress who played Family Matters matriarch Harriette Winslow revealed the alleged incident while talking about Mother's Day with Entertainment Tonight. "There was one time he actually wanted to physically fight me," Payton said, recalling the Season 9 episode, "Original Gangsta Dawg," in which White also played Steve's "gangster" cousin, OGD. "(There was a scene where) I said we can't do that, standards and practices will not let that pass, it's not gonna happen. He wanted to do it anyway... He was so mad, he started kicking and screaming and stuff. He said something about, 'She must want to melee.' I said, 'What's a melee?' He said, 'a fight.' I turned around -- if he wanna fight, I would. Darius (McCrary) grabbed me. I was gonna whip his behind." Payton says she doesn't entirely blame White, calling the actor, who was 21 when the episode, aired "just a kid" at the time. She blamed the adults on the show for "letting him run wild and do whatever he wanted to do, thinking he can say what he wants to say, you know, and hurt people's feelings and all that."