Are Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell Still Friends?

Kenan Thompson stopped by The Breakfast Club this morning and spoke about his long run on Saturday Night Live, as well as those persistent Good Burger sequel rumors. Fans of Kenan and his former co-star Kel Mitchell have long wanted to see Dexter and Ed brought back to life. While both comedians seem open to a sequel, the possibility may have some people wondering if Kenan and Kel are still close friends in real life. Kenan opened up about his relationship with Kel during his appearance on The Breakfast Club and, like any real life friendship, he admits they've had their ups and downs.

Rumors swirled for years that the two had fallen out of touch and, even, that a feud existed between to the former co-stars. Kenan, for the most part, stayed mum on these rumors. Kel, on the other hand, seemed to do feul them every chance he got. He once told TMZ that "the truth is Kenan does not want to be seen with me in any form of media, or even have my name mentioned around him. I have not been upset about this." This was hard for longtime fans of All That, Kenan & Kel, and Good Burger to hear and many refused to believe that this iconic comedic duo were no longer friends. 

It turns out that Kenan and Kel's fans were right not to give up on the duo's real life friendship. In July 2017, both comedians spoke to The Huffington Post about their complicated relationship. A few years after Kel made those comments about Kenan to TMZ, he reached out to his childhood best friend to reconnect. “I was in my backyard. I haven’t talked to this dude in years. I wondered ― ’cause I heard the same rumors of beef and all that, so I didn’t really know, since I hadn’t spoken with him ― if there was really a problem or not,” Kenan said. “It was immediate, like I had seen him yesterday or something like that. He had gone through his own tribulations or whatever and he was on the other side of that finally.”

Kenan opened up about his lifelong friendship with Kel again on The Breakfast Club, revealing that the two are now in regular contact. "There was some time where we didn't speak as much and I think the basis of that was that people were trying to lump us together so much after the show...we kind of wanted to show people that there's a Kenan Thompson and a Kel Mitchell. Y'all should appreciate us both instead of trying to hire us both without being able to hire us individually. We're not going to be able to go through life doing everything in tandem," Kenan said of their rumored falling out. "I was big on that. I'm pretty sure he was big on that, too. And then for a while he was living in California and I was living [in New York City], so, there wasn't as much speaking or whatever."

Kenan admits that some of the communication between the two also petered out because his star continued to rise after he landed a spot on Saturday Night Live, which might have been awkward for Kel because he auditioned at the same time and did not end up being cast. "We had a long talk about a year or so ago and reconnected and everything is great," Kenan explained. "We're all good. We're close, like we should be." 

This is great news for fans of the comedy duo, especially for those hoping to see the two appear on screen together soon. Kenan reveled that not only is he open to a Good Burger sequel, but that he'd also love to get the whole cast of All That together for a reunion special. Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed that these revivals happen.

Watch the full interview with Kenan Thompson: 


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