"Someone I met years ago explained to me the difference between a personality and an actor, a personality being Eddie Murphy or Roseanne Barr, and an actor being Morgan Freeman and Alfre Woodard or Marlon Brando. And in the shrinking world of sound bites, the Internet, and other mass media, there were going to be fewer actors and more personalities." (From PopMatters interview, 2000) (On becoming 7 Up pitchman) "I walked in thinking, 'I have ten movies under my belt and now they want me to go back to making commercials?' I said, if I do that, I want it to be funny. Quite honestly, I didn't think the deal was going to make, because I wanted part of the creative control. I was impressed that they were making an offer to a non-athlete young black male to be a spokesperson for two and a half years. To their credit, they said, absolutely yes, they never questioned anything I wanted to do." (From PopMatters interview, 2000) "I'm of two minds about the NAACP, I'll be brutally honest. When I was writing for 'Sinbad' and 'Roc Live,' I remember the pilot for "Martin" coming on, and a year later, the NAACP giving him an Image Award. A few years later, Martin was under fire for being "coonish" or whatever the word was people were using. And I thought that was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard. You give the guy an Image Award three years in a row and then turn on him like that? If that's the role they want to fulfill, they need to send a clearer message. I want balance. I want to see as many black professionals as possible. I don't care if a guy plays a wild, broad, completely downtrodden character, but I also want to see an average joe; the middle class has been completely unrepresented." (From PopMatters interview, with Cynthia Fuchs, 2000)