Eddie Murphy has won his first Emmy. Murphy won the Creative Arts Emmy for guest actor in a comedy series for his appearance as host of Saturday Night Live late last year. This is the fifth time that the actor/comedian has been nominated and the first time since 1999. Murphy was nominated alongside Fred Willard (Modern Family), Adam Driver (also for Saturday Night Live), Dev Patel (Modern Love), Brad Pitt (again for Saturday Night Live), and Luke Kirby (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel). You can read Murphy’s acceptance speech below.
“Thank you to everybody at the Emmys. Thank you so much for giving me an Emmy. I don’t have an Emmy. This is 40 years since I started Saturday Night Live, this is my first Emmy, so thank you so much. I want to thank Lorne Michaels for putting this whole thing together, and making this happen. And I want to thank, the cast, the writers and the crew at SNL. This was a very, very special thing for me to come back and have the show turn out the way it did. I’m still floating from it. And thank you to everybody for giving me an Emmy.”
Check out Eddie Murphy’s #Emmy acceptance speech for Outstanding Guest Actor In A Comedy Series for @nbcsnl. Congrats again, Eddie! pic.twitter.com/o2Tuptr8HV
— Television Academy (@TelevisionAcad) September 20, 2020
Eddie Murphy returned to host Saturday Night Live in December of last year. Before his monologue started, his name was being chanted by the live studio audience who were very excited to see him return to the long-running show. “This is the last episode of 2019, but if you’re Black, this is the first episode since I left in 1984,” Murphy joked. He then brought out Tracy Morgan, Chris Rock, and Dave Chappelle.
As was predicted, Eddie Murphy also brought out a lot of old favorites when he stepped in to host Saturday Night Live. It was the first time in 35 years that he had been on the stage and there was a lot of ground to cover. Mister Robinson, Buckwheat, Gumby, and Velvet Jones all made appearances and the sketches quickly went viral on social media following the airing of SNL. His triumphant return even involved a dig at Bill Cosby, who had previously scorned Murphy about his “blue” humor back in the 1980s. “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?”
Bill Cosby’s spokesperson, Andrew Wyatt, took offense to the joke and bashed Eddie Murphy on social media, calling him a “Hollywood slave.” Wyatt also went on to note that Cosby paved the way for comedians like Murphy, Dave Chappelle, and Chris Rock. Whatever the case may be, the joke went over just fine with the live studio audience and Murphy now has his first-ever Emmy.
Eddie Murphy has Coming 2 America on schedule to open in theaters later this year, though it is unclear if that will actually be happening. Wesley Snipes, who co-stars with Murphy in the long-awaited sequel, recently said viewers are going to need to wear diapers to the theater because it’s so funny. You can watch Eddie Murphy’s Emmy acceptance speech above, thanks to the Television Academy Twitter account.
