The Cosby Show star Phylicia Rashad paid tribute to her late onscreen son, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, at the 2025 Emmy Awards.
Taking to the stage in Los Angeles’ Peacock Theatre during the Sunday, September 14 ceremony, Rashad, 77, introduced the evening’s ‘In Memoriam’ segment which acknowledged late Hollywood stars including Warner, who died during a Costa Rica vacation on July 20. Warner was 54 years old.
Rashad portrayed Clair Huxtable on the 1980s sitcom, while Warner played Clair’s son, Theodore Huxtable. The Emmys tribute served as Rashad’s first public acknowledgment of Warner’s death.
“He was a beloved teenager in an iconic television series who the world watched grow into manhood, and like all our friends and colleagues who transitioned this past year, Malcolm Jamal-Warner remains in our hearts,” Rashad told the crowd. “Tonight, as is tradition at the Emmys, we remember them not just for their immense talent, but also for the way they made us believe in something bigger: the best that is within us.”
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Rashad continued, “Even though they may no longer be with us, we can all smile knowing that their impact will remain, knowing that their lasting impressions will continue to live on through story. Knowing that they touched our lives.”
A star on the NBC series, which ran from 1984 to 1992, Warner’s death rocked the industry when news broke on July 21. The actor drowned off a beach near Cocles in Costa Rica’s Limón one day prior, with ABC News confirming the incident via Costa Rican National Police at the time.
Us Weekly confirmed via the police department that the incident occurred “between 2:00 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. in the Playa Grande de Cocles area of Puerto Viejo de Limón.” Us previously reported on July 23 that Warner’s body was released from the morgue.
The official cause of death was ruled as asphyxia, per reporting by ABC News at the time. The Cleveland Clinic describes asphyxia as the result of not getting “enough oxygen,” with causes including drowning.
Upon learning of Warner’s death, several Cosby Show cast members took to social media to share their grief. Bill Cosby, who portrayed Clair’s husband and Theo’s father, Cliff Huxtable, throughout the series spoke out about Warner’s death in a statement.
Speaking to Us via his rep on July 21, Cosby said the news was “devastating” and reminded him of when he received a phone call while filming The Cosby Show, which revealed that his own son, Ennis, had died. (Ennis died at the age of 27 in 1997 during a failed robbery attempt.)
“Malcolm was changing the world, humanizing the world through his acting, his music, his poetry and even his new podcast … You never heard anything negative about the child actors from The Cosby Show,” Cosby’s rep, Andrew Wyatt, shared on behalf of Cosby at the time. “No drugs, no alcohol, none of that. Even though I was their TV dad, I never stopped being their father figure.”
