Malcolm-Jamal Warner celebrated Black excellence in final podcast episode before his death

Malcolm-Jamal Warner shared a powerful message days before his untimely death on Sunday.

Warner cohosted the Not All Hood podcast, which examines the lived experiences and identities of Black Americans. His final episode dropped two days before he died in an accidental drowning. He was 54.

Warner and cohost Candace Kelley sat down with spoken word poet Tamika "Georgia Me" Harper to discuss Black excellence and misconceptions about "the hood."

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The Cosby Show alum said he and Harper debated the name of his podcast at a recent poetry show. He said that she reminded him that there "ain't nothing wrong with the hood."

Warner emphasized that he didn't want listeners to have any misconceptions about the show.

"The concept is, like, what the media shows us is one side of, you know, Black culture and it's the hood side," he said. "The hood side ultimately historically is what has always created American culture, right? It gets co-opted from the hood and then it becomes mainstream."

Warner also shared how his perspective on Black excellence had changed over time. He said he believed Black excellence sometimes felt like a "subset" of success, which is often conflated with fame and wealth.

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After debating the anti-DEI initiative to erase Black soldiers' histories from the Arlington National Cemetery's website with a conservative friend, he changed his mindset.

"These people are fighting for freedoms that they don't even get to enjoy," said Warner, adding: "Now when I'm looking into the story, Black survival in of itself is Black excellence."

Not All Hood recently celebrated its first anniversary in June. Warner previously told PEOPLE that he was excited to show a more "vulnerable" side to him.

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"When we talk about the Black community, we tend to speak of it as a monolith when the reality is there are so many different facets of the Black community, and we wanted to have a space where we can really explore, discuss, and acknowledge all of those different aspects," he shared with the outlet last year.

Carsey-Werner Co./Everett

Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Raven-Symone on 'The Cosby Show'

Warner rose to fame as Theodore "Theo" Huxtable, son of Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby) onThe Cosby Show.He died in an accidental drowning after being caught by a high current off the coast of Costa Rica.

For many fans, Warner and his costars were examples of Black excellence themselves, as The Cosby Show aired at a time when there was very little representation of upper-class Black families on TV.

"Regardless of how some people may feel about the show now, I'm still proud of the legacy and having been a part of such an iconic show that had such a profound impact on — first and foremost, Black culture — but also American culture,"Warner said of the show's legacyfollowing co-creator and star Cosby's 2018 sexual assault conviction, which was overturned in 2021.

Warner is survived by his wife and daughter.

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