I am sad about Malcolm Jamal-Warner dying. Didn't know him. Most familiar with his work from Community. (I was born a bit late for The Cosby Show. More Family Matters time.)
But one year three families from my neighborhood went on a group trip to Los Angeles. Actually it was the Grand Canyon and we drove to Los Angeles which was terrible. But one girl, Tini, in our party really wanted to see celebrities and thought we would.
Of course we didn't because... why would we? We were doing dumb tourist stuff like Venice Beach. And she was bummed about it. So while she was asleep one night we decided to tell her we met a celebrity. We had a big discussion about who it should be because we didn't think it'd be believable if we went A-list.
We told her we met Malcolm Jamal-Warner. I don't remember whose idea his name was. Then when she woke up we told her. Rather than being devastated that she missed it she was thrilled and asked us to tell her everything (which was all lies). She totally believed us, no hesitation. She might still think we met him.
So I'm sad. RIP Malcolm Jamal-Warner. You brought me great joy from never having met you.