On Sunday night, Eddie Murphy accepted the Mark Twain Prize For American Humor at the Kennedy Center, and it was the first time he’d made a joke on stage in nearly three decades. What was that joke about? Accused rapist Bill Cosby.
Now that the number of women who have accused Cosby of sexual assault has passed 50, and he’s already been burned by many of his fellow comedians, it’s not especially edgy to call out the scumbag. But it is a big deal to see Eddie Murphy tell jokes live. And a bigger deal to see him come at Cosby, given that the Murphy refused to parody the comedian in the SNL 40th Anniversary special because, as Norm Macdonald told it, Murphy didn’t want to kick a man when he was down.
Earlier today, the Washington Post posted a video clip of Murphy’s acceptance speech, pointing out that the comic hasn’t told a joke in front of a live audience in 28 years. The Cosby bit comes in at 2:30:
Who else has one of these? Bill has one of these. Did y’all make Bill give his back? No, because I know there was a big outcry from people trying to make Bill give his trophies back. You know you fucked up when they want you to give your trophies back. He should do one show where he just come out and he talk crazy now. “I would like to talk to some of the people who feel that I should give back my mother fucking trophies!!”
He continued to rag on Cosby, mimicking his voice and responding to the allegations:
“You may have heard recently that I allegedly put the pill in the people’s stomach,” Murphy popped out perfectly as the audience erupted in delight. “…If I ever see or meet this Hannibal Buress in person I am going to try and kill this man!”
You can watch Murphy’s full speech when the ceremony airs on PBS November 23rd.
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