David Spade says he spent 25 years trying to get Eddie Murphy to stop hating him: 'He was a hero'
- - David Spade says he spent 25 years trying to get Eddie Murphy to stop hating him: 'He was a hero'
Shania RussellDecember 27, 2025 at 5:30 AM
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Steven Simione/WireImage; Jon Kopaloff/Getty
David Spade and Eddie Murphy
Never meet your heroes — but more importantly, never insult them on live TV.
David Spade learned that lesson the hard way and spent the next two decades paying for it after his infamous Saturday Night Live joke making fun of Eddie Murphy's budding movie career in the mid '90s. Murphy has since clarified that his outrage over the situation was targeted at SNL at large— not Spade specifically. But that doesn't mean there was no tension between them.
"It was weird going from being a super fan to having him hate me overnight, and to try to win him back for the last 25 years," Spade said of the legendary stand-up comic, during a November episode of his Fly on the Wall podcast with Dana Carvey.
Spade's remarks came after Murphy, who previously slammed the joke as racist, reflected on his initial outrage in the Netflix documentary, Being Eddie. Spade said that though he hadn't seen the doc yet, he's aware that their conflict is discussed.
David Spade on Spade in America: Hollywood Minute
"We had some bumps in the road along the way, early on," he acknowledged of their relationship. "I was on Weekend Update, on SNL, new to the show, making fun of all the celebrities and I made fun of him and it didn't go well. And he called me and we had it out."
Spade then corrected, "Actually, he had it out. I didn't really fight back. Because I did feel a little guilty about it. And he did make some sense, I just didn't like that because he was a hero."
The joke in question was made on the Dec. 9, 1995, episode of the sketch show, during the "Spade in America" segment that saw him also make fun of Princess Diana, Antonio Banderas, and Heather Locklear. Then, Spade sat beside an image of Murphy, whose comedy Vampire in Brooklyn had just bombed at the box office, and joked: "Look, children, it's a falling star. Make a wish."
The joke drew a mix of laughs and shocked reactions from the live audience, as Spade added, "Yes, that’s right. You make a Hollywood Minute omelet, you break some eggs."
Murphy, whose legendary run on SNL is credited with saving the show when it was on the verge of cancellation, was so offended by the joke that he cut ties with the comedy series for decades. But now, Spade insists that the so-called feud is in the past.
"I've seen him once or twice [since]. And then I saw him at the 50th and we talked a little bit and everything's fine," Spade shared. "And then they asked him about it and he said, 'Yeah, we're all good.' So yeah, we're all good."
Spade previously explained that he ran into Murphy on his way into the studio for the SNL 50th anniversary special in February 2025. "I walked past him on the way into the show and he put his arm back and blocked me, and so I had to say hi and give him a hug," Spade explained. "He was super cool. [I] dapped him up."
Murphy joined the cast of SNL in 1980, at just 19 years old. He departed four years later, bringing his success to the big screen with hits like Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America. As Spade's joke alluded, the box office yield of Vampire in Brooklyn was a sharp drop from Murphy's earlier successes, grossing just under $20 million. Still, the comedian did not expect to be the butt of the joke on SNL of all places.
"It's like your alma mater taking a shot at you," Murphy said in his documentary. "The audience there said 'boo,' and hissed him for saying it. I was hurt. My feelings was hurt."
He added that it felt especially personal because of "all of those channels that the joke has to go through" before getting to air.
NBC/Noam Galai/NBC via Getty
Eddie Murphy walks the 'SNL50' red carpet
"If there was a joke like that right now, and it was about some other SNL cast member, and it was about how f‑‑‑ed up their career was, it would get shot down," Murphy argued. "The producers look at you, 'You can't, you're not saying that joke.'"
To Murphy's credit, the joke aged poorly: His star was on the rise throughout the '90s and decades to follow. He had a box office smash with The Nutty Professor in 1996 and followed that up with even more hits, from 1998's Dr. Dolittle to 2003's Daddy Day Care (2003) to the ongoing success of the Shrek franchise, before his Oscar-nominated turn in Dreamgirls (2006).
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But the fallout lasted years, beginning Murphy's cold war with the show. He was the only major cast member to skip the show’s 25th anniversary special in 1999 and didn't appear on SNL again until 2015, for the 40th anniversary. He finally hosted again in 2019.
SNL boss Lorne Micheals has since admitted that it was “a mistake on our part” to approve the joke. "I figured it was kind of a clean hit. I didn’t really think about it," he confessed at an April 2013 event. "But Eddie did."
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
