<\/p>\n
Eddie Murphy\u2019s speech<\/a> addressing the lack of recognition of Black actors at the 1988 Oscars almost didn\u2019t happen \u2014 and it was a fellow comedian who tried to talk him out of it.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember being with Robin Williams backstage. I was like, \u2018I\u2019m gonna say this.\u2019 And he goes to me, like, \u2018But why go there?\u2019\u201d Murphy recalled in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh, you don\u2019t think it\u2019s funny?\u2019 It was more, is it funny? Rather than it\u2019s controversial,\u201d Murphy explained. \u201cI was trying to be funny and say a little something, but be funny too. Have a little edge to what I said.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy, now 64, delivered the speech<\/a> before handing out the Best Picture award to Bernardo Bertolucci\u2019s \u201cThe Last Emperor.\u201d<\/p>\n The longtime comedian revealed that he first declined the Academy\u2019s invite to present, saying, \u201cI\u2019m not going because they haven\u2019t recognized Black people in motion pictures.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy was referring to the only three performers who had won Oscars at the time: Hattie McDaniel (supporting in 1939), Sidney Poitier (lead in 1963) and Louis Gossett Jr. (supporting in 1982).<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I\u2019ll probably never win an Oscar for saying this, but hey, what the hey, I gotta say it,\u201d he continued. \u201cActually, I might not be in any trouble \u2018cause the way it\u2019s been going is about every 20 years we get one, so we ain\u2019t due to about 2004. So by that time, this will all be blown over.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy\u2019s comments then continued as a retelling of his conversation with his manager.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I came down here to give the award. I said, \u2018But I just feel that we have to be recognized as a people. I just want you to know I\u2019m gonna give this award, but Black people will not ride the caboose of society, and we will not bring up the rear anymore. And I want you to recognize us,\u2019\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n Ultimately Williams wasn\u2019t turned off by the speech itself, but rather Murphy\u2019s tone while delivering it. <\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t thinking of the ramifications of it,\u201d Murphy told EW. \u201cI was just trying to be funny in the moment and I wanted what I was saying to be relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n Murphy\u2019s words may have had some impact. Two years later, Denzel Washington became the next Black actor to take home an Oscar in an acting category for his supporting role in \u201cGlory.\u201d Whoopi Goldberg and Cuba Gooding Jr. also earned Oscars for their supporting roles in 1990 and 1996, respectively. Then, in 2001, Halle Berry famously became the first and only Black woman to win the Best Actress award for \u201cMonster\u2019s Ball.\u201d That same year, Washington became the first two-time African-American acting champion when he claimed for his lead role in \u201cTraining Day.\u201d <\/p>\n Overall, 23 Oscars have been awarded to Black entertainers since 1929, according to Gold Derby<\/a>. The most recent recipient was Da\u2019Vine Joy Randolph, who last year<\/a> took home the Oscar for best supporting actress for \u201cThe Holdovers.\u201d <\/p>\n While Murphy himself has not won an Oscar, he was nominated for best supporting actor in 2007 for his role in \u201cDreamgirls,\u201c which he ultimately lost to Alan Arkin for \u201dLittle Miss Sunshine.” Jennifer Hudson, however did win the Best Supporting Actress award that year. <\/p>\n Murphy is actively promoting his new documentary, \u201cBeing Eddie.\u201d<\/a> The film chronicles<\/a> the comedian\u2019s legendary career from starting out as a teen stand-up who joined the cast of Saturday Night Live to starring in box office hits such as \u201c48 Hrs.,\u201d \u201cTrading Places\u201d and \u201cBeverly Hills Cop.\u201d The documentary is available to stream on Netflix<\/a>. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.masslive.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eddie Murphy\u2019s speech addressing the lack of recognition of Black actors at the 1988 Oscars almost didn\u2019t happen \u2014 and it was a fellow comedian who tried to talk him out of it. \u201cI remember being with Robin Williams backstage. I was like, \u2018I\u2019m gonna say this.\u2019 And he goes to me, like, \u2018But why […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2151866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2151866"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2151867,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2151866\/revisions\/2151867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2151866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2151866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2151866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}