DJ Jazzy Jeff Recalls Will Smith Trying to Cut His Cast Off With Butter Knives: ‘I Can’t Put Pants On’

DJ Jazzy Jeff gave some insight on a near-medical emergency on the Will Smith-hosted podcast, Class of '88. In an episode of the podcast's inaugural season, Jeff shared that he and Smith, formerly known as The Fresh Prince, were in London with some associates in 1987, recording an album for their former label Jive Records.

However, Jeff and Smith had a "rough start" to the recording process, due to Jeff suffering from a minor injury.

"Right before we left for London, Jeff broke his leg in a car accident. So when we finally arrived in our hotel, Jeff was in a full-length cast from his hip to his ankle," Smith recalled.

Jeff added, "I probably should have gotten the cast off before we left to go make the album, but I didn't, so I was way past due of this cast coming off to the point that the filling inside the cast started to irritate my kneecap—which is the reason Will kinda came up with this brilliant idea of 'I can get your cast off.'"

Joking that his answer to everything was "yes," Smith went for the only option he could think of at the time: to "saw off Jeff's cast with knives from the hotel's room service."

After receiving 24 butter knives from room service, Smith proceeded to saw Jeff's cast off but came across a slight mistake. "So I had been sawing the cast from the top, which I guess isn't medically recommended, so the cast got stuck maybe halfway down Jeff's leg," Smith said.

Jeff responded, "And he says...like, 'What would MacGyver do?' And I'm like, dude, stop playin' like that because at this point I can't put pants on to go to the hospital to have them cut it off."

Taking the 'MacGyver' route, Smith advised Jeff to climb into the bathtub in an attempt to "soften" the cast, which proved to be the wrong move, as fiberglass and plaster aren't waterproof.

"It started to shrink, so now it's choking my leg. And it really didn't help that through the entire process, he's laughing," Jeff said about Smith's reaction. "And I'm freaking out. I'm wet, in my underwear, with a cast up to my ankle."

Just as the duo's problem seemed to worsen, interference came from Jeremy “JL” Lam, a friend of the late Jam Master Jay. Not only did JL get involved, he also had a can of beef stew that came in handy.

"He opened a beef stew can.... He was using the jagged edge of the can top, and he went straight down. Where I was trying to saw vertically, he went horizontally," Smith said of the cast-cutting resolution.

Seven minutes thereafter, Jeff's cast was off. "Luckily I didn't end up putting Jeff back in the hospital, which was helpful, because we had a lot of music to deliver—and fast," Smith said.

The actor also retold the comical story in his 2021 memoir Will, which saw a bestseller's spike on The New York Times hardcover nonfiction list after last year's Oscars.

Class of '88, which launched on Friday, includes conversations between Smith and 1980s hip-hop peers like Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, Rakim, Chuck D, Fab 5 Freddy, J.J. Fad, and DJ Red Alert.