Eddie Murphy Says Old Joke David Spade Made On ‘SNL’ About Him Was ‘Racist’

Eddie Murphy is accusing a joke that David Spade made about him and his career on Saturday Night Live back in 1995 as “racist.”

Murphy appeared on The New York Times’ The Interview podcast on June 29, opening up about some unfair criticism and treatment he feels he endured throughout his career.

One particular joke that Spade made during a December 1995 “Hollywood Minute” sketch seemed to stand out to him.

In the infamous sketch, an image of Murphy appeared on the screen as Spade said, “Look children, it’s a falling star, make a wish.”

Murphy’s film Vampire in Brooklyn, which was released just two months before the SNL appearance, had just “flopped” at the box office according to the actor/comedian.

“It was like, ‘Yo, it’s in-house! I’m one of the family, and you’re f—— with me like that?’ It hurt my feelings,” said Murphy on the podcast.

“This is Saturday Night Live. I’m the biggest thing that ever came off that show. The show would have been off the air if I didn’t go back on the show, and now you got somebody from the cast making a crack about my career? And I know that he can’t just say that,” Murphy continued.

“A joke has to go through these channels. So the producers thought it was okay to say that,” he added. “And all the people that have been on that show, you’ve never heard nobody make no joke about anybody’s career. Most people that get off that show, they don’t go on and have these amazing careers. It was personal.”

Murphy then noted that he considered the joke “a cheap shot” and “felt it was racist.” He didn’t return to SNL stage again until the show’s 40th anniversary special in 2015.

He says “in the long run, it’s all good.”

“I’m cool with David Spade. Cool with [SNL creator] Lorne Michaels. Went back to SNL, I’m cool with everybody. It’s all love,” he said. “But I had a couple of cheap shots.”

Spade previously revealed on Sway in the Morning in 2018 that Murphy attempted to reach him multiple times on the Monday after the sketch first aired and when they finally connected, Murphy yelled at him and made some “valid points” about how he helped keep SNL on the air.

“I couldn’t really get anything out. I was a fan, I wanted to say… I don’t think I said that much,” recalled Spade. “I was scared. And my feelings were so hurt because I love Eddie Murphy so much and he hated me. I’d rather just wonder if he ever thought I was funny, now I have proof he doesn’t and he hates me.”

Per Variety, in his 2015 memoir Almost Interesting, Spade wrote that he ultimately felt bad about the “stupid” joke.

“Everybody in showbiz wants people to like them. That’s how you get fans. But when you get reamed in a sketch or online or however, that shit staaaangs,” he wrote. “And it can add up quickly.”