Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross were named “Disney Legends” at the company’s D23 Expo this past weekend, allowing the Black-ish costars to reflect on the experience of ending the popular family sitcom in April after eight successful seasons on ABC.
“[It was] very bittersweet,” Anderson told Yahoo Entertainment (watch above). “We knew it would always come to an end. We just didn’t know it would come to an end when it came to an end. But we had 176 episodes and eight years of memories to hold onto.”
Ross agreed but noted that she already had experience ending a long-running show, having starred on UPN and the CW’s Girlfriends from 2000 to 2008.
“The truth is that the way we ended Black-ish, and knowing that the ending was coming, just allowed me to stay just present and be awake in the last season and to enjoy every stitch of it,” Ross says. “So I leave with joy and pride.”
As for who cried the hardest, Ross says that title goes to herself and their TV children. “Anthony, honestly, was hilarious. He was very emotional in all the press we did after we finished.”
Of course any discussion of Anderson crying will also conjure up images of his famous sobbing GIF, which the actor actually takes pride in for being… the second most popular crying meme on social media.
“I hear it’s the number two GIF behind Michael Jordan crying meme,” Anderson says of the ubiquitous “Crying Jordan” meme that was spun out of the retired basketball star’s tear-soaked Hall of Fame speech.
“That crying meme is epic,” Ross agrees. “And it was epic that day when we were shooting it… We were all dying with laughter.”
