Throughout his 40-year career, Eddie Murphy has never been a fan of the glitz and glam of Hollywood.
Ahead of the release of Netflix’s latest documentary, “Being Eddie” — in which he opens up about his rise to fame, explains how he managed to escape the dark side of Hollywood and theorizes on why he’s never taken home an Academy Award — the 64-year-old revealed why he avoids award shows and “fake” people.
“That’s one of the reasons why I don’t go to award shows and stuff, the feeling of being in a room full of famous people who all want to win some trophy, that feeling is such a s—ty feeling,” he told USA Today. “Everybody’s dressed and acting and fake … just being in a room full of famous people is just a weird — I don’t like it.”
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“ I’ve always liked to stay around the house,” Murphy continued. “The people I know that do stand-up comedy … they do it because they love it. They love it. They get something from getting on that stage and feeling the energy and all, and I’m the exact opposite.”
“My batteries get recharged in a quiet setting when I’m at home, or I’m somewhere where everything can slow down, that’s where I get energized,” he added. “The crowd saps my energy.”
Throughout his career, he’s played every role under the sun — an older woman in “The Nutty Professor,” a donkey in “Shrek,” a veterinarian who talks to animals in “Dr. Dolittle,” a Jewish man in “Coming to America” and so much more. From helping redefine stand-up comedy in modern society to paving the way for Black leading actors in Hollywood, Murphy has undoubtedly dedicated his life to show business and the silver screen.
Yet, he’s never won an Oscar.
Murphy, who kickstarted his career as a stand-up comedian when he was 15 years old, got his breakthrough role on “Saturday Night Live” in the 1980s. Over the next few years, he landed leading roles in various films including “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Boomerang,” “Harlem Nights,” “Coming to America” and more.
Murphy, who had already found mega-success in the late ‘80s and early ’90s, was well on his way to becoming one of the greats.
“I wanted to be funny as Richard [Pryor]. I wanted to be cool like Elvis [Presley]. And I wanted to be as big as The Beatles,” he said in the documentary.
Reginald Hudlin, a film producer and director, said Murphy had a mission.
“One of the quiet agendas that Eddie has is, ‘Hey, Black people haven’t had a movie like that. There hadn’t been a Black romantic comedy before. We need to do that so other people can do that, and if I can use my clout to open that door, that’s a good thing.'”
“Because we showed Black life in a way that had never been put on screen before, there were these really extreme reactions,” Hudlin said. “Hollywood back then and to this day. There’s a lot of negative forces. Black movie stars always had to break through all these obstacles, but those obstacles were the default.”
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While presenting an award during the 67th annual Academy Awards in 1995, Murphy called out the Academy for not recognizing Black talent.
“When they came to me, and they said they wanted me to present the award for Best Picture, my manager came to me and told me that the Academy had picked me,” Murphy told the crowd. “My first reaction was to say, ‘No, I ain’t going.’ And my manager said, ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘I’m not going because they haven’t recognized Black people in motion pictures.’ And he said, ‘What are you talking about? Black people win Oscars.’”
“I’ll probably never win an Oscar for saying this, but hey, what the hey,” he said. “Actually I might not get in any trouble because the way it’s been going, about every 20 years we’ve been getting one, so we ain’t due until about 2004. By that time, this will all blow over.
“I just want you to know I’m going to give this award, but Black people will not ride the caboose of society, and we will not bring up the rear anymore. I want you to recognize us.’ They said, ‘Well fine, it’s done.’ I said, ‘When do I have to be there?’ He said, ‘Well, you don’t have to get there until about nine or 10. It’s the last award of the evening.'”
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Murphy said his comments may be the reason he’s never been awarded an Oscar.
“The next day, it was like I didn’t say anything,” Murphy recalled in the documentary. “There were no pictures of me at the Oscars. There was no coverage of me. There was no mention that I said that. It was like I wasn’t at the Oscars and I haven’t gotten an Oscar. I haven’t gotten an Oscar, man. I’ve done everything. I’ve played everything.”
“I’ve done everything, and I’ve never gotten an Oscar, but I don’t think it’s because of that,” Murphy added, with a smirk.
At the end of the day, however, Murphy’s main focus is elsewhere.
“I think I’m in a transitional period as a comedian,” he said in the documentary. “I feel like there are other things that I want to do, and I don’t want to do things that I’ve done before, and I want to do different types of movies and exploring where I am in this part of my life because so much has happened to me in the last couple of years between marriage and kids and personal life.”
Murphy is dad to ten children from various relationships. He and his wife, Paige Butcher, married in 2024 and share two children together.
“My kids are the center of everything,” he said. “Before kids, it’s just about you, and once you have kids, it’s all about that.”
“I used to stay up maybe two days, sometimes before I would go to bed,” he continued. “When I met Paige, I got more on her schedule. Now we watched two episodes of ‘Seinfeld’ right after that. Go to bed.”
“Somebody asked me once about movies, my legacy. My legacy? My legacy is my children,” he added. “If you put your kids first, you never ever make a bad decision.”
Murphy said he’s grateful for his longstanding career and recognizes his Hollywood success is rare.
“My biggest blessing is not my comedic talent. My biggest blessing is that I love myself and I knew what I wanted to do really, really early,” he said. “That’s why I didn’t fall into any traps or anything because, at the root of it all, I love myself.”
“Being able to navigate this minefield that you have to navigate, just being on the physical plane, you know, and then you add to it, you’re one of the faces, there’s a higher power that’s at hand. There’s some other s— going on. When s— is all f—ed up, well, you get centered, pray.”
“What am I setting out to do?” he asked himself at one point. “Ultimately, it’s to make people laugh.”
