Eddie Murphy has said that he “cringes” when he watches old stand-up jokes about AIDS, women and homosexuality.
Speaking to the New York Times, Murphy said that his 1987 stand-up special Raw makes him “cringe” today, and that he was “a young guy processing a broken heart” when he recorded it. “Kind of an a**hole,” he added.
Raw was released at the height of Murphy’s Eighties fame, grossing $50 million worldwide and becoming the most financially successful stand-up special ever released in cinemas.
But it has also been controversial, with Murphy using homophobic slurs throughout his set and joking about women and AIDS. In 1996, Murphy apologised for the jokes, saying: “I deeply regret any pain all this has caused. Just like the rest of the world, I am more educated about AIDS in 1996 than I was in 1981.
“I think it is unfair to take the words of a misinformed 21-year-old and apply them to an informed 35-year-old man. I know how serious an issue AIDS is the world over. I know that AIDS isn’t funny. It’s 1996 and I’m a lot smarter about AIDS now.”
In the New York Times, Murphy said that the jokes were “ignorant”. Performing a comic impression of his reaction to watching Raw today for interviewer Jason Zinoman, Murphy joked: “That’s a bit much, my goodness – my word.”
Murphy is currently earning Oscar buzz for his performance in Netflix’s Dolemite Is My Name, playing filmmaker, rapper, musician and comedian Rudy Ray Moore, who was best known for his blaxploitation character Dolemite.
Dolemite Is My Name can be watched on Netflix from 4 October.
