Fans of the hit CW series All American are still getting over the death of Billy Baker, who is played by Taye Diggs. After being on the show for nearly five seasons, Diggs is leaving the series and moving forward in his career. Shortly after the emotional episode aired on Monday, Diggs went to Instagram to send an emotional message to the fans.
“That’s a wrap! Thank you fans for your unrelenting support,” Diggs wrote. “Thank you cast for your energy and unrivaled talent. Y’all are EVERYTHING and will always be. THANK YOU, NnKe For such a graceful exit and for altering the trajectory of my life as an actor, parent and a human being. SO MUCH LOVE.”
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In Monday’s episode, Billy was escorting a bus full of football players when they got into an accident. The bus was stuck on the edge of the cliff, and Billy got himself and everyone to safety, except for a player named Jabari (Simeon Daise) who was still on the bus. Billy goes back to get Jabari, and it was later revealed that he died as his family learns the news.
When Diggs spoke to TV Line, he revealed when he began talking to producers about exiting the show. “I was having a great time,” Diggs said. “It was just a feeling that I got [that I was ready to leave], and I just honored that feeling. It was maybe mid-fourth season. I don’t even remember, to be honest, because the showrunner [Nkechi Okoro Carroll] and myself are close. We’d been keeping in contact, so she had known, and we’d been talking. And we decided how to go about it, and storylines and whatnot, so it was all above board, and everyone was in the know.”
Diggs also talked about how Billy’s death was the right move in terms of his exit from the series. “The easiest choice would have been for me to teach at some college, but then given the intensity of the relationships between me and my family, and me and the team, it would not make sense if I was still alive and wasn’t still in contact with these children of mine — these students, these young men that had such an influence on my life,” Diggs explained. When I was told how I was exiting, I was impressed.” Diggs has been on All American since it premiered in 2018. He can currently be seen on the Peacock series The Best Man: The Final Chapters.
