A resurfaced clip of Eddie Murphy recalling the time he met the legendary comedian Richard Pryor has surfaced, and while the story seems like a funny, heartfelt memory, some fans aren’t buying that it is true.
In March 2021, during a virtual appearance on “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” Murphy gave a breakdown of how he met Pryor for the first time on a flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles. He explained that at the time, Murphy had been on the “Saturday Night Live” show for just a year and that Pryor was aware of him but that his name was nowhere near where it is today.
Holding a copy of his first comedy album, the “Boomerang” star said, “I went over and I said, ‘Mr. Pryor, I’m Eddie. Will you listen to my CD?’” Murphy said he gave him the recording and Pryor put it in. Murphy said he sat a few seats behind Pryor and could hear him laughing, which got Murphy excited.
“Afterwards, when the plane landed,” Murphy continued, “his driver met him with his car and he said which way you going” and said Pryor offered to take him to the house he was staying in.
The Golden Globe winner ended the story saying, “That’s how I met my idol.”
The clip was reposted by Shawn Prez, Founder of The Global Spin Awards, on June 20 and was meant to spark some inspiration for his followers. He wrote the caption, “Moral of the Story: It’s so rare that you meet your idol and they outdo your expectations. Mirror that behavior.”
However, skeptical followers claimed that Murphy’s story did not sound completely factual.
One follower wrote, “Richard also died, saying Eddie didn’t respect him,” and another concurred, writing, “Literally anyone who has ever followed Richard knows this, lol. This isn’t even new information, lol.”
But another person attempted to debunk those statements by making the point that the two actor-comics have previously worked together in the 1989 film Harlem Nights. They wrote, “EDDIE PUT HIM IN HARLEM NIGHTS AND OTHER PASS AND FUTURE GREAT COMEDIANS.”
Someone else pulled receipts from the 2019 Comedy Hype interview with Pryor’s former bodyguard Rashon Khan claiming that Murphy disrespected Pryor. The interviewer asked Khan to talk about Murphy’s appearance in an episode of the Jerry Seinfeld Netflix show “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” where Murphy talked about not knowing how Pryor actually felt about him.
Khan said Murphy lied when he told Seinfeld that Pryor would be “shook” when Murphy would show up at clubs where Pryor was performing. He claimed that not only was Murphy’s statement a lie, but it was “disrespectful” because he only said this because Pryor was no longer alive to defend himself. “The Toy” actor passed away in 2005 from a heart attack.
He went on to accuse Murphy of emulating Pryor in his work before coming into his own and said he recalled a time when Pryor claimed that Murphy didn’t like him. Khan described an episode where he and Pryor were invited to Murphy’s house while filming “Harlem Nights.”
“Eddie knew we was there and it took Eddie about an hour and a half, two hours to come down from his office,” Khan said. He claimed at one point, Pryor turned to him and said, “The only reason I am staying here is so that you see that this motherf—r really don’t like me.”
Khan said, “It was an awkwardness for Eddie” to be directing legendary actors like Pryor and “Sanford and Son” actor Redd Foxx because “these is idols.” He said when he watched Murphy standing behind the camera on set of the film, he could see him “wanting to be on the floor where they was” because that is where “the history was happening.” He continued by saying at the time Murphy was “a young person watching the masters.”
Fellow comedian and Eddie Murphy collaborator Arsenio Hall also had a different recollection of how Murphy and Pryor met. In Chris Rock’s 2021 standup, Chris Rock: Total Blackout, he shared the story with Rock and Dave Chappelle backstage.
“Eddie and Richard only got together for the movie. They were not cool. Richard and Cosby weren’t cool,” Chris Rock said, prompting Arsenio to share a story of the first time he saw Murphy and Pryor together.
“Richard’s on stage in The Original Room and he’s performing,” begins Arsenio. “Rashon brings him a note. Richard looks at the note, and he puts it away and he keeps working a little bit. The note says, ‘Eddie Murphy is here.'”
Arsenio continues, “So, Richard’s working. Richard finally says, ‘There’s a young man here. A lot of people say that he’s the new me, but I’m not finished being me yet, so that sh-t is… That f—ks with me. His name is Eddie Murphy. You wanna come up, so I can get to know you?'”
According to Arsenio Hall, Richard Pryor sat close by, watching the crowd go wild as Eddie Murphy nailed his set.
“Eddie walks in the main room, comes up to that one step on, right. He steps up on the stage, they shake and meet for the first time,” said Arsenio. “Richard walks away but doesn’t leave. He sits on that step. That one step down in The Original Room, he sits, and sits and watches Eddie work.”
Unlike Eddie’s story, there was no airplane and Arsenio makes no mention of a cassette tape being exchanged.
As for Khan, Murphy has yet to respond to his accusations of disrespect.
