# RIP Malcolm-Jamal Warner (July 21, 2025) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [July 21, 2025, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156 "2025-07-21T17:58:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/1 "2025-07-21T17:58:10Z")
Malcom-Jamal Warner has died in an accidental drowing: > **[Malcolm-Jamal Warner, ‘Cosby Show’ Star, Dies at 54](https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/malcolm-jamal-warner-dead-drowning-cosby-show-1236466032/)** > > Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played Theodore Huxtable on 'The Cosby Show,' has died in an accidental drowning. He was 54. I’ve always liked him, and had really enjoyed him on _The Resident_. ---
**Author:** ![Frilly\_Heck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/90ced4/32.png) [@Frilly\_Heck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frilly_Heck)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/2 "2025-07-21T18:46:34Z")
That’s sad. I’ve been doing a _Community_ rewatch, and I enjoyed him on that. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/3 "2025-07-21T18:51:26Z")
At this point, we don’t have a Babylon 5 curse as much as a Joe Straczynski curse. Babylon 5 has famously lost a lot of young cast members. Jeremiah, another show from him, has now lost Luke Perry and Malcolm-Jamal Warner, its two leads. Both very young. Warner drowned after being carried out by a current. Ugh, I hate stories like this. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/4 "2025-07-21T19:10:56Z")
Rest in peace, Theo! ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/5 "2025-07-21T19:12:18Z")
I’ve always enjoyed him as Theo. One of the very few kid actors who could act. mmm ---
**Author:** ![SwissMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@SwissMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwissMan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/6 "2025-07-21T19:12:46Z")
Damn, that is absolutely shocking. MJW always seemed in interviews to be a great guy; he definitely came across as the gold standard of how to raise a child to be a good human being while growing up on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/7 "2025-07-21T19:38:06Z")
My song relaying this news to me: And yet Bill Cosby still walks among us. We live in dark times, people. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/8 "2025-07-22T06:01:51Z")
That is sad news. Seemed like a great guy, by all accounts. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/9 "2025-07-22T23:42:02Z")
Undertow. Before you realize you’re caught in it, you may have used up enough energy and be in a panic to rationally know you have to swim horizontal till out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/10 "2025-07-22T23:58:50Z")
I’ve seen this video make the social media rounds in the wake of Warner’s death. It’s a nice way to remember him, and the best of what the Cosby Show could be. I give you _Night and Day_, by the Huxtables. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/sJtK0vvCPT0/maxresdefault.jpg "The Cosby Show - Night and Day performance") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJtK0vvCPT0) ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/11 "2025-07-23T01:55:00Z")
Very sd, and much too soon. ---
**Author:** ![Patx2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/73ab20/32.png) [@Patx2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patx2)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/12 "2025-07-23T01:55:44Z")
Sad, not ad, should’ve proofread. He will be missed. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/13 "2025-07-23T02:00:58Z")
He seemed to have survived being a kid actor very well. He managed to work pretty steady through his adult life. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/14 "2025-07-23T07:57:25Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > At this point, we don’t have a Babylon 5 curse as much as a Joe Straczynski curse The **Sense8** cast is still OK though, right? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/15 "2025-07-23T13:23:45Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The **Sense8** cast is still OK though, right?. I think so. I presume the Wachowskis are the key to keeping people alive. The Matrix cast, for the most part, seems to be OK 26 years later and they co-created that show with JMS. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/16 "2025-07-23T13:36:16Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > Undertow. > > Before you realize you’re caught in it, you may have used up enough energy and be in a panic to rationally know you have to swim horizontal till out of it. Technically it is called a rip current. I too almost drowned in one when I was 8 1/2, later learning how to spot, avoid, and get out of one when our family moved to coastal Florida 2 years later. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2025, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-malcolm-jamal-warner-july-21-2025/1021156/17 "2025-07-23T15:41:24Z")
That’s one of my favorite moments from The Cosby Show, and Warner looks incredibly cool in it. My Doperness compels me to point out that the song is not “Night and Day,” but “Night Time is the Right Time,” by Ray Charles, with Margie Hendrix doing the female vocal. I blame whoever posted it to YouTube, not **Moriarty** , for that error. I was just a couple years older than Theo, and identified with him very strongly when I watched The Cosby Show. I was glad to see that Malcolm-Jamal Warner seemed to avoid the pitfalls of being a child actor, and was able to emerge with a respectable adult acting career. In addition to being, by all accounts, a good, decent guy. I hadn’t thought about him in awhile, but the news of his death was shocking and has hit me pretty hard.