Bill Cosby’s spokesperson has described Eddie Murphy as a “Hollywood slave” over the “disparaging remarks” that Murphy made about Cosby in his return to “Saturday Night Live.”
In a lengthy statement to Instagram posted late Sunday, Cosby spokesperson Andrew Wyatt said it was Cosby who opened the doors for Murphy and other black men to do comedy, and that his client used comedy to unify rather than bring others down.
“Mr. Cosby broke color barriers in the Entertainment Industry, so that Blacks like Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappell (sic), Kevin Hart and et al., could have an opportunity to showcase their talents for many generations to come,” Wyatt said in his statement. “It is sad that Mr. Murphy would take this glorious moment of returning to SNL and make disparaging remarks against Mr. Cosby. One would think that Mr. Murphy was given his freedom to leave the plantation, so that he could make his own decisions; but he decided to sell himself back to being a Hollywood Slave.”
On Saturday, Murphy made his return to the “SNL” stage for the first time since leaving the show in 1984. Murphy was joined by Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan and current cast member Kenan Thompson, he said he would’ve never expected to be where he is now.
“If you told me 30 years ago that I’d be this boring stay at home house dad and Bill Cosby would be in jail, even I wouldn’t have took that bet,” Murphy joked. “Who is America’s dad now?” he continued while doing a Cosby impersonation.
Cosby is currently serving a prison sentence of between three to 10 years for a 2018 conviction on three counts of aggravated indecent assault.
“Remember, Mr. Murphy, that Bill Cosby became legendary because he used comedy to humanize all races, religions and genders; but your attacking Mr. Cosby helps you embark on just becoming click bait,” Wyatt’s statement continued. “Hopefully, you will be amenable to having a meeting of the minds conversation, in order to discuss how we can use our collective platforms to enhance Black people rather than bringing all of us down together.”
Murphy has previously criticized Cosby, both in his 1987 stand-up special “Raw” and more recently, Murphy told Jerry Seinfeld on an episode of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” that Cosby was “mean” to him for his use of profane language in his comedy.
“He had a weird thing with me that he didn’t have with other comics,” Murphy told Seinfeld. “He wasn’t nice. He wasn’t doing that with everybody, he was doing that with me specifically. He was sh—y with me.”
Read Wyatt’s full statement below:
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6ZWerAnhDR/