Eddie Murphy has distanced himself from his old anti-gay jokes. The comic had a decidedly homophobic start in comedy, with his 1983 special Delirious opening with a five-minute anti-gay rant.
In an interview with CBS, Murphy was asked about whether he still finds his old material funny. He said: “Some of it. Some of it, I cringe when I watch. I’m like, oh my God, I can’t believe I said that!”
Asked if he was bothered by protests from the LGBT+ community at the time, he said: “No. In the moment, you kind of was like, hey, it is what it is, you know?”
He added of his past material: “I’ve seen stuff that I’ll go, like, oh, that’s… [uncomfortable] ooh! Yeah, you’ll get a joke that’s cringey. But that’s not to say that I don’t appreciate it. I still appreciate it. And I’m looking at it within the context of the times, you know. And I’m going, okay, I’m a kid, saying that.” Asked if he had regrets, Murphy said: “None whatsoever.”
Murphy has long since distanced himself from the content of the Delirious special. He first disavowed its content in 1996, when he said: “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 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.”
“I am not homophobic and I am not anti-gay. My wife and I have donated both time and money to AIDS research.”
However, the comedy special still sometimes airs on TV and resurfaces on streaming platforms like Netflix.
When the special was added to Netflix UK in 2016 it received a string of one-star reviews from shocked viewers who were unaware of Murphy’s past in homophobic content.
Via PinkNews
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