Eddie Murphy Talks Movies, ‘SNL,’ and a Possible Return to Standup

Eddie Murphy is opening up about his decision to turn down returning to “Saturday Night Live” to play Bill Cosby during a sketch for the show’s 40th anniversary. While the whole affair was nonstop hilarity, a few of the most fun moments came from past SNL greats.

Speaking about the incident for the first time in an interview with The Washington Post, Murphy said while the sketch Macdonald wrote was “hysterical”, he didn’t think it was appropriate to mock Cosby for the dozens of sexual assault allegations levied against the 78-year-old. “You’re hurting him. You’re hurting his accusers”, he says. Eddie Murphy knows what would handle SNL quicker than anybody. Chris Rock walked out on the stage to extensively praise Murphy, Murphy accepted the praise, and that was it. There was no Murphy clip reel, and he didn’t participate in any sketches. In addition to Ferrell as the long-suffering Alex Trebek, Norm Macdonald and Darrell Hammond reprised their unforgettable Celebrity Jeopardy roles as, respectively, an unfocused Burt Reynolds and the baselessly belligerent Sean Connery.

After the airing of the February special, Macdonald explained in a series of tweets that Murphy declined to play Cosby because “he will not kick a man when he is down.”

After hearing word that Murphy had decided not to perform as Cosby during the anniversary special, the beleaguered comedian spoke out in a statement obtained by NBC. It turns out that Murphy wasn’t stoked on being asked to impersonate an accused serial rapist.