Martin Lawrence Sets The Record Straight About Those Alleged ‘Colorism’ Jokes On His Iconic Show
Martin Lawrence is finally weighing on the chatter involving his popular past show and the alleged colorism-laced jokes that weew present in the series!
Black News 
Martin Lawrence, the titular star of the hit ’90s comedy “Martin,” is speaking out about his show and finally adding his two cents to the recent conversations about colorism in past jokes.
As we already told you, Lawrence’s costar Tichina Arnold recently broached the subject during a conversation with comedian Deon Cole for his “Funny Knowing You” podcast. During their chat, she disagreed with singer Ari Lennox’s assessment that the jokes often lobbed at her by Lawrence on the show were rooted in colorism, adding that it was nothing more than two funny folks taking jabs at each other.
Describing the jokes as coming “out of love,” Arnold said: “If you were around on ‘Martin’ days and on that set, all the funny really happened when those cameras weren’t rolling. When I tell you, we would call—it was bad. Like, the way we used to crack. So, I used to be around a lot of gay men as well. So, my reads and my cracks were quick.”
“We have jokes, but my relationship with that show was never, ever… those jokes were never written from malice. It was written from, who’s got the best jokes,” Arnold added.
Now, the man himself–a.k.a. Lawrence–is giving his five cents about the colorism complaints in a new interview. Speaking with Fox5 DC reporter Marissa Mitchell in a new interview released on Tuesday, Lawrence told her that he never had any concerns that the comments could be taken in that way, as the biggest concern was always who had the better jokes.
“I knew they were jokes and that’s the way, you know, Black people—that’s the way we joke,” he said. “We go hard, you know. And me and Tichina was having a lot of fun, and we was just keeping it real. And I was just keeping it real, so that’s why we got a lot of laughs out of it. So, she has the right to have her own opinion and everything, but there was no malice intent.”
Martin responds to Ari Lennox’s colorism remarks about jokes toward Tichina Arnold (Pam) on the Martin show being tied to Pam’s dark skin tone & says he was just keeping it real & having fun and that there was no malice intent.
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) January 13, 2026
(marissamtchll/IG)
pic.twitter.com/u6oPBU4fo1
Once Lawrence’s words began making the rounds on social media, others were quick to agree with him and defend the show entirely.
“So was Martin being ableist for calling Cole dumb? Classist for making fun of Tommy being jobless? Pam gave as good as she got and everybody got it. These perpetual victims (read narcissists) only have one lens, and it’s projecting. You could seek help but we know why you won’t,” wrote one user on X/Twitter.
Added one other person: “Show went off the air in 1997, we loved it. What is the obsession black people w tearing down the stuff we other black people loved back in the day?”
Another user noted, “You see how bad the world has gotten. We take the pure and innocent things of the past and criticize them with the filthy woke dirty minds of today. Kmft.”
