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Was John Amos Fired from ‘Good Times’? The Truth Behind His Character’s Exit

Amos, who passed away at 84, portrayed the stern but loving patriarch James Evans in “Good Times,” one of the first sitcoms centered on a Black family, starting in 1974.

“With a career spanning over five decades, Amos leaves behind a legacy of groundbreaking work in both television and film, along with a commitment to positive African American representation in media,” the statement read. Chronicling the trials and tribulations of a Black working-class family living in the Chicago projects, Good Times(1974-79), which aired on CBS, never shied away from the gritty realities of life in public housing. Amos’s outspokenness, which was initially welcomed, eventually led to his dismissal in 1976 for being deemed a “disruptive element,” as he mentioned in an interview with the SiriusXM program Sway in the Morning.

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