Yikes.
Eddie Murphy had some choice words for David Spade after his infamous “Hollywood Minute” bit on Saturday Night Live in the ’80s. In Spade’s new memoir Almost Interesting, the 51-year-old opens up about the joke that caused the Dr. Doolittle star to boycott the live comedy show for nearly 31 years — and not return until SNL 40 this past February.
As a refresher, in an episode of Spade’s “Weekend Update”-style segment where he would harps on celebs, the comic showed a picture of Murphy (right after the movies Harlem Nights and Vampire in Brooklyn flopped) and joked about his struggling career:
“Look, children! It’s a falling star. Make a wish.”
Eeeek.
Related: Hollywood’s Top 20 Nastiest Shade Throwers!
As an SNL alum and fellow comedian trying to make it, Eddie was not thrilled to say the least. The actor called Spade constantly until finally David got the courage to call him back. The convo confrontation went like this:
“David Spade, who the f*ck do you think you are?!! Honestly? Who. The. F*ck. Going after ME?? You dumb m*therf*cker! I’m off-limits, don’t you know that? You wouldn’t have a job if it weren’t for me. Talking sh*t about me?”
Ooof.
A speechless Spade — who chalked the joke up to being “baited” by writing staff — couldn’t say much, despite fellow cast member Chris Rock‘s attempts to improve the stand-up comedian’s mood:
“I barely spoke. I just stared at Rock in disbelief. It was so much worse than I had imagined. I wanted to apologize, explain the joke, anything, but nothing came out. Here was one of my favorite comedians of all time ripping me a new a**hole. I had worshipped this dude for years, knew every line of his stand-up. And now he hated me. Like, really really hated me.”
In a Rolling Stone piece in 2011, Murphy — decades after the incident — still had a bad taste about the joke, but didn’t only blame Spade:
“They said some shitty things. There was that David Spade sketch. I made a stink about it, it became part of the folklore. What really irritated me about it at the time was that it was a career shot. It was like, ‘Hey, come on, man, it’s one thing for you guys to do a joke about some movie of mine, but my career? I’m one of you guys. How many people have come off this show whose careers really are fucked up, and you guys are shitting on me?’ I don’t hate David Spade, I’m cool with him.”
After ducking the 54-year-old actor for years, the Joe Dirt star understands why the joke was so offensive:
“I’ve come to see Eddie’s point on this one. Everybody in showbiz wants people to like them. That’s how you get fans. But when you get reamed in a sketch or online or however, that shit staaaangs. And it can add up quickly. Then before you know it you’re a punch line├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥just look at Vanilla Ice and five hundred million others. Eddie was mad. No one had dared go after him. And he wanted it to stop there.”
So is this feud finally over? Seems like a Beverly Hills run-in where Murphy told Spade to “take it easy” might’ve buried the hatchet:
“My burden was lifted. After all those years, that stupid joke can just be that, a stupid joke. And I can go back to appreciating what a funny m*therf*cker he is.”
They might not be besties, but it’s better than nothing!
[Image via WENN.]
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