Eddie Murphy has been making a screen comeback. There’s Coming 2 America (2021); Candy Cane Lane (2023), an Amazon Prime Christmas film; and Netflix’s Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, which premiered on July 3.
When asked what’s next for the actor, he said he’d “flirted with the idea of a live show for years and years,” referring to the possibility of doing Broadway.
One thing’s for sure – the original Nick Cannon hasn’t lost his touch when it comes to comedy.
One example is his uncensored joke about Will Smith during the 80th Golden Globes ceremony in January 2023.
It was 10 months after Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith that triggered the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum to slap the then-Oscars host. Eddie’s funny speech was praised by fans, but some were worried that it only started a feud with Will — who just started a comeback alongside Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys: Ride or Die.
Eddie Murphy Said The Key To Success Is To “Keep Will Smith’s Wife’s Name Out Of Your F—– Mouth”
While accepting his Cecil B. DeMille award at the 2023 Golden Globes, a serious Eddie talked about the “definitive blueprint that you can follow to achieve success, prosperity, longevity, and peace of mind.” He said he “followed it my whole career; it’s very simple. There’s three things you just do. Just three things.” He then made the audience laugh when he joked:
“Pay your taxes, mind your business, and keep Will Smith’s wife’s name out of your f–ing mouth.”
Fans commended Eddie for his bold joke. “Eddie Murphy hasn’t lost his touch,” one commented under the YouTube clip above. Another netizen noted that the three success tips were all a shade on Will. “Eddie is a legend on and off camera. This clip is hilarious as it’s all true as [Will] went to prison for not paying his taxes and for beating up a music producer.”
In 1989, a 20-year-old Will Smith was arrested for allegedly asking his bodyguard to “attack” record promoter, William Hendricks, who ended up needing six stitches after fracturing his left eye orbit.
Before Fresh Prince, Will had major troubles with the IRS. “Before I was in trouble with Uncle Phil, I was in trouble with Uncle Sam,” he said on his YouTube series, STORYTIME. He admitted to living beyond his means that the IRS had to collect all his expensive purchases. “Being famous and broke is a sh—- combination,” he said. “You’re still famous and people recognize you, but they recognize you while you’re sitting next to them on the bus.
His then-girlfriend advised him to hang out on the set of The Arsenio Hall Show to score some opportunities. And it worked. Thanks to a 10-minute impromptu audition at Quincy Jones’ house, the Hitch star landed his NBC sitcom and then got his taxes in order. “Always say yes,” Will reflected on that time. “And I guess listen to your girlfriend.”
Eddie Murphy Didn’t Hear From Will Smith After Joking About His Oscars Slap At The 2023 Golden Globes
Talking to reporters backstage at the 2023 Golden Globes, Eddie said “it’s all love” between him and Will. “Yeah, because in reality, I’ve worked with Jada,” he told Entertainment Tonight. Eddie and Jada previously worked together in The Nutty Professor (1986). “I love Will. I love Will, and I love Chris — and it’s all love,” added the Norbit actor. As Eddie explained in July, if it’s really funny, it won’t cause any harm.
“I don’t think the woke, cancel culture has anything to do with whether or not something is funny, and ultimately, comedy is either funny or it’s not,” Eddie told BET. “I don’t think anyone is going to get canceled because they said something that was funny. Usually, the things that people say that ruffle somebody’s feathers and start controversial things are really, really not funny .”
The Harlem Nights alum further explained, “It’s like they said something that was edgy, and a couple of people might laugh at them. But something that is really funny, it is what it is. No one’s canceling funny. You want more. You don’t cancel it. You turn it up.” And that’s what Chris did in March 2023 during his live comedy show, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage. “You know what people say, they say, ‘words hurt,'” he joked. “Anybody that say words hurt has never been punched in the face.”
Elsewhere on the set, he quipped: “People are like, ‘Did it hurt?’ It still hurts! I got Summertime (Will’s 1991 single) ringing in my ears.” Chris also came after Will and Jada’s marriage, saying: “We’ve all been cheated on, everybody in here been cheated on, none of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television. She hurt him way more than he hurt me.”
Here’s a timeline of Will and Chris’ beef:
| March 27, 2022 | Will slapped Chris on the Oscars stage before yelling out, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f—ing mouth!” It was in response to the latter’s joke about Jada’s bald head, saying, “Jada I love you, ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it.” |
| March 27, 2022 | Shortly after the incident, Will won the Best Actor award for King Richard. He apologized during his acceptance speech. “Love will make you do crazy things,” he said at the end. |
| March 28, 2022 | Chris reportedly refused to press charges against Will. |
| March 28, 2022 | “I am a work in progress”: Will issued a public apology saying, “violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive” and that his “inexcusable” actions ” were due to Chris’ dig at “Jada’s medical condition (alopecia),” which “was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.” |
| March 30, 2022 | Chris broke his silence for the first time. “I’m still kind of processing what happened,” he said during a stand-up show. “So at some point, I’ll talk about that sh–. And it will be serious and funny.” |
| April 2022 | Will was banned from attending any Academy events for ten years, seven days after he resigned (he can still be nominated for future Academy awards, but he can no longer vote for the Oscars). |
| July 28, 2022 | Chris said he’s “not a victim” and that he “shook that s–t off and returned to work” during his Rock Hart Only Headliners Allowed tour. |
| July 29, 2022 | Will posted a public apology to Chris and his mother via social media. |
| March 5, 2023 | Chris roasted Will about Jada’s “entanglement” on his Netflix special: “His wife was f—ing her son’s friend. OK, now, I normally would not talk about this s—, but for some reason, these n—-s put that s— on the internet. I have no idea why two talented people would do something that lowdown.” |
| October 2023 | In her memoir, Worthy, Jada revealed that Chris asked her out on a date amid rumors of her divorce from Will around 2016. |
Martin Lawrence Originally Wanted Eddie Murphy For ‘Bad Boys’ Instead Of Will Smith
Bad Boys was initially set to star Martin and Eddie, but the former chose Will because the Bowfinger star “cost too much.” During a Q&A for Bad Boys: Ride or Die, the National Security actor said: “I had a deal with Sony, and this was a movie they brought to me to see if I wanted to do, and I just had to find a partner to do it with. And I was thinking about doing it with Eddie Murphy and all that, but he costs too much.”
Martin then said he “picked the right person” to be his onscreen partner. “But I picked the right person, because my sister was the one who told me, ‘You should do it with Will.’ Two sitcom stars, y’all coming together to meet on the big screen, that could be something special. So me and Will had a dinner…”
“And after five minutes of talking to Will, he’s the best salesman ever.”
The comedian said he “couldn’t say no [to Will], and it’s been Bad Boys ever since.” For context, the movie premiered in 1995, a year after Eddie’s Beverly Hills Cop III came out. At that point, the latter was already a huge franchise while Bad Boys was just one of Will’s first big movies. “Before Beverly Hills Cop, there had never been a movie that starred a black man, black person, that was successful all around the world,” Eddie said in June.
“Even still, to this day, when black folks, we, make movies, most of the time they work in the States and outside of the country they don’t work,” he continued. “Beverly Hills Cop started it, all around the world – that’s where you get Will and The Rock, they do it now, but Beverly Hills Cop is the first one that did it.”
Eddie Murphy’s estimated net worth is $200 million, while Will Smith’s is $350 million.
