Actor Omar Gooding has seen his share of black television series come and go in Hollywood.
It’s something he experienced playing lead on “The Barbershop” series and “Smart Guy,” alongside the show’s lead, Tahj Mowry.
Many have wondered about Gooding’s role on another short-lived series.
“Thea” centers on a no-nonsense mom raising four kids in a low-income neighborhood.
The show debuted in 1993 and lasted one season.
Gooding says it could have gone longer, but someone didn’t “know their place.”
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The show aired on ABC starring singer Brandy Norwood, Adam Jeffries, Jason Weaver, Brenden Jefferson, and Thea Vidale as mom.
Gooding played Dwayne, the boyfriend of a popular girl named Marcella, who used the main character’s son, Jerome, to make him jealous.
Overall, he said in a “The Art of Dialogue” June 2 podcast interview, “Thea was a hot mess, Bro. She was … OMG.”
“‘Thea’ was a mess, bro. She was cursing out everybody,” Gooding admitted.
“THEA WAS A HOT MESS” – OMAR GOODING?‼️🤔 pic.twitter.com/qfgdJ8QvZJ
— SoulFood66 (@BlackAndNative1) June 5, 2026
Speculation about what ultimately ended the show has persisted for decades, though many have pointed to Vidale’s behavior on set.
Gooding said the show’s run might have lasted longer if people had not let success, power, and fame go to their heads.
“You’ve had the same Black history as the rest of us. You know that when you get a position of power, what that means. It doesn’t mean you can abuse it. You can’t do what anybody else do,” he explained.
When asked about friction with young Brandy on set, Gooding said, “I would hear verbal abuse. I was just from the mind-your-business era.”
“So, it wasn’t like, ‘What’s going on over there? Huh? You all right, Brandy?’” the 49-year-old exclaimed.
Gooding witnessed Vidale’s attitude firsthand and said he was shocked, wondering, “Who would put up with that?”
He recalled the one time it got so bad that Brandy’s “people had to stick up for her.”
Brandy was a teenager during the show’s run, and her mother, Sonja Norwood, served as her manager.
But Gooding didn’t mind when Vidale used her power to demand a change in his outfit after noticing he had been squeezed into a suit that didn’t fit.
“Thea saw me on it and she’s like, ‘Uh uh, cut. No, no, change that boy out of that.’ She said, ‘He look like he been stuffed into that suit’ and I was like, ‘Thank God’ and they went and changed me out of it. She was just being her … like, ‘Take him and put him in something else.’”
The “Baby Boy” actor stressed that Black people must understand their history and how it continues to affect others today.
He also suggested that Vidale squandered a major opportunity, especially as the face of “Thea.”
“When people … get an opportunity, you get your show, and it’s your gig, and for you to just let that go to your head, they’ll fix you quick,” he said, pointing at producers.
Thea was a good show! pic.twitter.com/DCah9EbbJS
— SLaM (@trillseel_) November 2, 2025
Touching on a much bigger point, Gooding added, “You shouldn’t have to be because you’re Black, [but] you got to know your place. It shouldn’t be that. The problem is that that is a fact. And a lot of us just understand that and we get along better.”
Longtime “Thea” fans were shocked to hear the indirect confirmation of tension between a child and adult actor.
Supporters left remarks like, “Hatin on someone you met AS A CHILD for 30 years is unconscionable” and “Look at how far Thea went and look at how far Brandy went!!” online.
One person wrote, “Oh wow! That’s so mean to do to a child/teen! I’m shocked her and Mama Norwood didn’t go at it over how she spoke to her daughter. Mrs. Sonya look like she doesn’t play!”
Fans also noted that Brandy revealed more about her time on the show in her 2026 book, “Phases: A Memoir.”
“Brandy def talked in detail about this verbal abuse in her memoir. Thea even told the audience that Brandy was on her period one day on set. Karma got Thea tho cause her career went nowhere after this,” wrote one person.
Another concluded, “Lmao. Omar kept it real. Jason was holding back.”
On the same podcast earlier this year, Jason Weaver shared the same sentiment about show’s ending.
He, too, believes “Thea” could have gone on for seasons.
The actor also admitted that Vidale and Brandy “had their issues.”
But he was “never in the direct line of fire because my mom wasn’t playing that. And Sonja wasn’t either.”
