Phylicia Rashad, who played the indelible Matriarch Clair Huxtable in “The Cosby Show,” introduced Memoriam Performance in 2025 Emmys and took the opportunity to say goodbye to screen son Theo Huxtable actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
“He was the beloved teenager of an iconic television series watching the world grow into manly,” she said. “Like all our friends and colleagues who have moved over the past year, Malcolm Jamal Warner remains in our hearts. Tonight we may know that they are within us, not just because of their enormous talent, but because of the way they made us believe in what is within us. We touched our lives.
Warner passed away in July at the age of 54 as a result of a random drowsing while on vacation with his family in Costa Rica.
Rashad and Warner were co-stars on “The Cosby Show” for the entire eight seasons. Warner also starred as Theo in the first two seasons of the “Cosby Show” spinoff, “Another World.”
On September 12th, Tenisha Warner paid tribute to her late husband on Instagram, saying, “I am grateful for the love of us so much in this kind of time. Tomorrow will be welcoming an anniversary. And my heart is open to me. For the first time, I can get a glimpse of how I started it all.
She also announced plans for a new project to pay tribute to his legacy, saying, “Today, in his honor, my daughter and I are officially launching the Warner Family Foundation with River & Ember.