Eddie Murphy Recalls David Spade’s ‘Racist’ Joke on ‘SNL’ That Sparked Feud

Eddie Murphy is opening up about some of the “low blows” he’s had to endure throughout his career, including the one that sparked his long-running feud with David Spade.

THE The Beverly Hills Police Officer: Axel F The star was asked if he feels like he’s ever been treated unfairly over the years by the press and his co-stars in a new interview with The New York Times.

“At the time, they were unforgiving to me, and most of what they said was racist,” Murphy responded, noting that at the time “there was no black Hollywood. There were no rappers, no hip-hop. It was the 80s.”

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While he acknowledged it was a “completely different world” when he first became famous as a comedian, he admitted it hurt when Spade said “f— about my career” on Saturday Night Live a decade later.

“It was like, ‘Yo, this is internal!'” he said. “I’m family, and you’re messing with me like that?’ It hurt me like that.

The actor, who starred in SNL from 1980 to 1984, was a reference to a 1995 “Hollywood Minute” sketch in which Spade showed a photo of Murphy before joking, “Listen, kids, it’s a shooting star. Make a wish.” Murphy told the Times that the vaccine was a response to his 1995 film A Vampire in Brooklyn sinking at the box office.

The search took him by surprise. “It was like, ‘Hey, hello. It is Saturday Night Live,'” he said. “I’m the most important thing that ever came out of that show. The show would have been canceled if I hadn’t come back, and now you have someone from the cast talking about my career?

Murphy was also upset that production greenlit the remark. “I know he can’t just say that — a joke has to get through those channels — so the producers thought it was okay to say that,” he said. “Anyone who’s been on this show has never heard anyone make a joke about anyone’s career. Most people who leave this show don’t go on to have these amazing careers. It was personal.

He continued: “It was like, ‘Yo, how could you do that?’ My career? Really? A joke about my career? So I thought it was a low blow. And it was kind of racist, I thought – I felt like it was racist.”

Spade discussed the fallout from the joke in a 1997 interview with Weekly Entertainment“Chris Rock said to me, ‘Spade, Eddie has his biggest movie in 10 years, a beautiful woman, and he still can’t get over the fact that you attacked him,'” he said at the time. “I said, ‘Tell him three words that will change his life: Let it go.'”

However, Spade admitted that he eventually understood why the joke angered Murphy in his 2015 memoir, Almost interesting.

“A jab like the one I threw at Eddie can be the start of turning public opinion against someone,” he wrote. “I try not to think about the victims when I make crude jokes, but sometimes there are consequences. I know for a fact I can’t handle it when it comes my way. It’s horrible for the same reasons. I came to see Eddie’s take on this one. Everyone in showbiz wants people to like them. That’s how you get fans. But when you’re filmed in a sketch or online or whatever, it’s bullshit.

Talk to the TimesMurphy said he and Spade are now on good terms. “Long term, it’s been great, it’s worked out really well. I’m cool with David Spade, I’m cool with Lorne Michaels. I went back to SNL” he said, referring to his appearance on the show’s 40th anniversary special in 2015. “It’s love, but I’ve had some low points.”