Eddie Murphy has revealed that Robin Williams tried to talk him out of making his now-famous remarks at the 1988 Academy Awards, when he publicly criticized the Oscars for failing to recognize Black performers.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Murphy recalled being backstage moments before presenting the Best Picture award.
“I remember being with Robin Williams backstage,” he said. “I was like, ‘I’m gonna say this.’ And he goes to me, like, ‘But why go there?’”
Murphy said Williams’ concern wasn’t about the controversy, but whether the joke would land.
“I was like, ‘Oh, you don’t think it’s funny?’” Murphy recalled. “It was more, is it funny? Rather than it’s controversial. I was trying to be funny and say a little something, but be funny too. Have a little edge to what I said.”
Despite Williams’ advice, Murphy followed through with his idea and called out the Academy for its lack of diversity.
“I’m not going because they haven’t recognized Black people in the motion picture,” Murphy told the audience.
He went on to list the very few Black Oscar winners in the ceremony’s history, including Hattie McDaniel, Sidney Poitier, and Louis Gossett Jr.
“I’ll probably never win an Oscar for saying this, but hey, what the hey, I gotta say it,” Murphy added, “we ain’t due [another win] till about 2004.”
The actor ended his speech by saying, “Black people will not ride the caboose of society, and we will not bring up the rear anymore. And I want you to recognize us.”
Looking back, Murphy said he wasn’t thinking about possible backlash from his remarks.
“I wasn’t thinking of the ramifications of it,” he said. “I was just trying to be funny in the moment and I wanted what I was saying to be relevant.”
Two years later, Denzel Washington won an Oscar for Glory, marking the first Black acting win since Murphy’s speech.
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