Malcolm-Jamal Warner remembered for his creative talent that spanned across TV and music

Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner delivers a speech.
Actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner delivers an emotional speech, during a rally in Atlanta for a National Day of Solidarity with SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America, East on Tuesday, August 22, 2023. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, the multi-talented superstar best known for his role as Theo Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” has died at 54.

Warner was an Emmy-nominated actor and a Grammy Award-winning poet. He was also a director and a musician. Authorities say the gifted artist, who was an Atlanta resident, drowned in Costa Rica on Sunday while vacationing with his family.

Tributes continue to pour in from Georgia and across the nation. On Wednesday’s edition of “Closer Look,” host Rose Scott talks with Nsenga Burton — an award-winning journalist, entrepreneur and editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire — and Dr. Maurice Hobson, an author, historian and professor of Africana studies and history at Georgia State University. They reflect on Warner’s creative body of work, his life and his legacy. Burton also shares details about her recently published op-ed that focuses on Warner’s life.