NEWSEddie Murphy Shades 'Saturday Night Live' in New Netflix Documentary as He Reveals Why He Boycotted the Show for Years: 'Dirty Mother-------'
Eddie Murphy explained his long-running beef with 'Saturday Night Live,' the show that made him a star, in his new Netflix documentary, 'Being Eddie.'
Nov. 12 2025, Published 3:39 p.m. ET
Eddie Murphy is opening up about his long-standing beef with Saturday Night Live, the show that made him a star, in his new Netflix documentary, Being Eddie.
In the doc, which premiered on the streamer on Wednesday, November 12, the comedian details his ire when David Spade made a joke at his expense during a 1995 episode of the show.
The joke suggested that Murphy's movie career was floundering as his film Vampire in Brooklyn had bombed at the box office.
Eddie Murphy Was Hurt by David Spade's Joke
Eddie Murphy was furious over a joke David Spade made about him on the show in 1995.
“I just had Vampire in Brooklyn come out,” Murphy explains in the doc, before pointing out that the audience booed in response to Spade's joke.
"I was like, hurt. My feelings was hurt," he says.
"It was like, ‘Yo, I’m from the same... It’s like your alma mater taking a shot at you — at my career," he says, adding, "Not how funny I was — calling me ‘a falling star.’ If there was a joke like that right now, and it was about some other SNL cast member, and it was about how f----- up their career was, it would get shot down.”
Speaking on The New York Times' podcast last year, he shared that the "cheap shot" felt "racist."
The Comedian Was Mad at the Show, Not David Spade Himself
Eddie Murphy rose to fame on 'SNL' in the early '80s.
Murphy clarifies in the doc that he wasn't angry at Spade, exactly, but that the joke had to be approved by so many people before airing.
"The joke had went through all of those channels that the joke has to go through, and then he was on the air saying, ‘Catch a falling star.’ So I wasn’t like, ‘F--- David Spade.’ I was like, ‘Oh, f--- SNL. F--- y’all. How y’all going to do this s---? That’s what y’all think of me? Oh, you dirty motherf------’. I was like that. And that’s why I didn’t go back for years.”
'Being Eddie' dropped on Netflix on Wednesday, November 12.
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Eddie Murphy Is Over It
The comedian returned to 'SNL' to host its 2019 Christmas episode.
The Beverly Hills Cop star goes on to say he's moved past his grudge as the doc highlights his return to the iconic sketch comedy series to host its 2019 Christmas episode.
"I was like, you know what? F--- this. SNL is part of my history,” he says, "I need to reconnect with that show because that’s where I come from."
The 'Beverly Hills Cop' star shared he's moved past his beef with the show.
"That little friction that I had with SNL was 35 years ago,” he says. "I don’t have no smoke with no David Spade. I don’t have any heat or none of that with nobody."
