‘Red Table Talk’ Canceled

Jada Pinkett Smith’s Emmy-award-winning Facebook Watch talk show, , has been canceled. The cancellation comes as Meta is shuttering the Facebook Watch originals group, whose small slate of shows included Pinkett Smith’s series. Deadline reported the news that Mina Lefevre, who was Head of Development and Programming at Meta, is exiting Facebook’s parent company. As part of the change, none of the remaining Facebook Watch Originals, including the highly popular Red Table Talk, are coming back for new seasons.

Lefevre, who previously served as EVP and Head of Scripted at MTV, is part of the latest round of layoffs at the Mark Zuckerberg-run company. To date, more than 20,000 employees have left. The change comes as Facebook has already reduced much of its original content. The company is reportedly now shifting its focus on creating virtual reality experiences in Meta Horizon Worlds that can also be deployed across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. It’s unclear if Pinkett Smith plans to shop the show around to another platform.

Red Table Talk was hosted by Pinkett Smith, her mother Adrienne Noris, and her daughter Willow Smith. The series was billed as providing real conversations between the three generations of women to bridge the gap on important subject matter. Over the course of its run, there have been many notable discussions on co-parenting, love, sex, relationships, abuse, and substance abuse, toxic masculinity, career, and more. 

Guests featured on the show that have trended include Robyn Crawford, Sheree Fletcher, Toni Braxton, Kid Cudi, Don Lemon, Jordyn Woods, Ciara, Demi Moore, Bobby Brown and Ashanti. The show earned a Daytime Emmy Award in 2021 in the category of Outstanding Talk Show: Informative.  

The most controversial episode featured the Set it Off actress and her husband, blockbuster star Will Smith, admitting to her “entanglement” with family friend turned lover, August Alsina. Pinkett Smith said the relationship occurred when she and Smith were planning to divorce. Alsina clearly had hard feelings about the split, detailing the romance from his standpoint days prior in an interview with former The Breakfast Club co-host Angela Yee, and releasing music about it. He claimed The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum gave him permission to date his wife.