The most devastating moment of Eddie Murphy’s career: “It’s weird to find out your idol hates you”
There’s an old adage in showbusiness that goes something like this: never meet your heroes. It’s not a nice adage, granted, but it’s one that countless stars throughout history have had to learn the hard way. The thinking is that meeting someone you’ve always been a fan of and whose work you idolise will always be disappointing, as they will invariably fall from the pedestal you’ve placed them on in your mind. They’re only human, after all, just like you – not the superhero you’d made them out to be. Spare a thought for Eddie Murphy, though, who experienced the most devastating version of this when he actually found out his idol hated his guts.
In 1989, Murphy was at the top of the Hollywood comedy mountain. Following a string of enormous hits, including two Beverly Hills Cop movies, The Golden Child and Coming To America, he was given carte blanche to do whatever he wanted. Murphy had always wanted two things: to make a period film and to star alongside his hero, Richard Pryor. So, he signed up to direct and star in 1989’s Harlem Nights, the tale of a pair of nightclub owners in 1930s New York, and cast Pryor as his co-lead.
Interestingly, Murphy told Spin magazine in 1990 that he only agreed to direct the film because he’d become frustrated with the directors he’d worked with previously. He claimed it was hard to convince directors to come on board despite his movies being so phenomenally successful. Therefore, he couldn’t help feeling that the ones who agreed to work with him were craven journeymen who felt, “I’ll do this Eddie Murphy movie and get paid.” It led him to a point where he simply thought, “Well, fuck it, I’ll just do the shit myself.”
Unfortunately for Murphy, agreeing to direct, write, and star in the movie was a tall order. Fascinatingly, he admitted that he was so powerful at the time that no one would push back on any of his ideas, which turned out to be detrimental. For one thing, he’d written a movie that wasn’t anywhere near as comic as his previous efforts, yet had cast himself, Pryor, and Redd Foxx – three of the greatest Black comedians of all time – in it. “There were just too many different hats to be wearing at the same time for the first time,” Murphy confessed. “I just wanted to direct—just to see if I can do it. And I found out that I can’t, and I won’t do it anymore.”
Finding out that he can’t be everything to everyone wasn’t even the worst part of Murphy’s Harlem Nights experience, though. That came when he realised Pryor was in no mood to truly collaborate with him on set. Instead, he claimed the iconic comedian “would come to the set, say his line and leave.” To his horror, though, Murphy said he found out after the shoot finished that “Richard doesn’t like me. That’s what the whole thing was about.”
Murphy claimed that he spoke to people in Pryor’s orbit and emerged believing, “I don’t really think he hates me; I just think he thinks I’m the reason why his shit ain’t the way it used to be.” In essence, Murphy thought Pryor resented him for becoming a massive comedy star while his own career was on the downturn – and perhaps he felt Murphy was stealing his spotlight in the process.
A downcast Murphy concluded, “I used to have more Richard Pryor pictures up than Elvis Presley. And after I worked with the brother and I found out shit…it’s real weird to find out your idol hates you.”
There is a happy ending to this story, though. After Pryor passed away in 2005, Murphy paid tribute to the fallen hero who supposedly hated him. “Richard was the gold standard, a true genius who influenced not only me but every comedian that took the stage after him,” Murphy stated. “I feel fortunate to have been able to call him not only my inspiration as a young comic but my friend. I will miss him terribly, but I will take comfort in knowing that his legacy will last forever.”
Perhaps the two comedy icons buried the hatchet somewhere between 1989 and 2005 – or maybe the rumours of Pryor’s dislike of Murphy weren’t as accurate as the young comic believed back then.
