Film + TV

Remember when Carlton Banks danced to 'Billie Jean' with Michael Jackson?

by Mark Teo

As lifelong fans of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, we know that Alfonso Ribeiro—a.k.a. Carlton Banks—is one helluva dancer. That’s why we weren’t surprised to see him competing on Dancing With the Stars, where last week, he brought down the house by resurrecting the famed Carlton dance to Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual.” It seemed like he hadn’t lost a step.

“The Carlton dance is different from any dance you’ll ever learn,” he instructed to I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. “You don’t have to have rhythm. You have to separate body parts. It’s like doing four moves at the same time.”

Seriously. Try it. We just did, and we’ve determined that the Carlton is straight-up impossible. It speaks to the skill Ribeiro has as a dancer, which got us thinking: When did he start dancing? Well, turns out, it goes way back to 1984. In a Pepsi commercial. Where Ribeiro, then a child outfitted in MJ’s signature red jacket, moonwalks directly into Michael himself. Check the video below.