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2019 saw the beginning of the comeback tour from Eddie Murphy that fans had been waiting on for decades. While we’re still a ways away from seeing him reprise his classic characters of Prince Akeem in Coming 2 America and Detective Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop 4, his performances on Saturday Night Live and Dolemite Is My Name show he hasn’t lost a step.
According to CBS News, Murphy admitted that these projects are indeed a part of his “big comeback!” and in a show of personal growth and evolvement, Eddie looks back at his jokes about homosexuality in disbelief.
“Some of it. Some of it, I cringe when I watch,” he replied. “I’m like, oh my God, I can’t believe I said that!”
True that. While the 80’s and 90’s were known for basically using the LBGT community as a punching bag in all sorts of situations, those same kinds of jokes and slander will get you canceled in the age of social media. Still, the iconic comedian doesn’t necessarily regret joking that he used to have “nightmares about gay people.”
“I’ve seen stuff that I’ll go, like, oh, that’s, ooh, yeah, you’ll get a joke that’s cringey. But that’s not to say that I don’t appreciate it. I still appreciate it. And I’m looking at it within the context of the times, you know. And I’m going, okay, I’m a kid, saying that.”
The man did have two classic stand-up comedy specials. Just sayin.’
Still, after all the success and fame, Eddie’s one of the very few celebrities from the 80’s who’s managed to keep himself alive and healthy and he says his secret to pulling off that feat is his faith.
“I’ve always been really comfortable in my skin. It’s ’cause I’ve always been grounded spiritually, you know? I believe in God and I believe in prayer.”
“Do you pray every day?”
“Yeah, I pray all the time, you know. I pray all the time. And you don’t have to, like, get down on your knees and pray, you know. You can pray wherever,” he said.
“You know what I found? A lot of of people in show business that get really successful at an early age, a lot of them go through a lot of stuff and have issues and drug problems, and all these are self-destructive. And I never had that because I was grounded spiritually.”
Drop a gem on them, Eddie.
Though we won’t be seeing a new Eddie Murphy movie for a while, he’s supposed to embark on a stand-up tour some time in 2020 and while we have no idea what his material will consist of you can bet he won’t be making light of the LGBT community anytime soon.
Eddie Murphy Says His Old Homophobic Jokes Make Him “Cringe” Today was originally published on hiphopwired.com
