Eddie Murphy’s 15 year feud with fellow comedy star who humiliated him

After being cast in Saturday Night Live in the early 1980s when barely in his twenties, Eddie Murphy took America by storm and fast became one of the biggest Hollywood movie stars of the decade, with the likes of the Beverly Hills Cop series, Coming to America and his stand up special Raw. However, in the 1990s, the former SNL legend was the butt of a joke by a current cast member which was too below the belt for him and sparked a 15 year feud.

Back in 1995, during his Spade in America: Hollywood Minute segment on SNL, David Spade made a joke about Murphy that the Shrek star would never forget.  A picture of the actor came up next to the comedian, who said: “Look children, it’s a falling star, make a wish.”

There were boos from the audience and a week later he found himself in big trouble with Murphy. According to Jimmy Fallon and Jim Breuer, Spade was in the writers’ room talking when a panicked producer alerted him.

Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel in 2020, Spade said of the feud: “I just said a joke about him and he wasn’t in the mood for it. He yelled at me and we carried that grudge forever. So, thirty years later he finally hosts SNL and he says it’s still awkward for me and him, I never see the guy…”

Yet Murphy had walked up behind him and said: “Hey man, can I talk to you?” The Nutty Professor actor gave him a hug and added, ‘Hey this is stupid’, as they buried the hatchet.

Spade added: “So we talked about SNL and some other stuff for a while. Super cool dude, I just felt bad I was a little thorn in his side for all that time, but we’re all good now.”