After reportedly declining to do a Bill Cosby impression for Saturday Night Live’s 40th Anniversary special, Eddie Murphy revived his old act while being honored at the Kennedy Center in D.C. on Sunday night.
Watch above at the 2:22 mark, (via AP video) as Murphy accepts the Mark Twain Prize on stage and mentions that Cosby has the same trophy. He then jokes, “You know you fucked up when they want you to give the trophies back,” referring to the backlash after Cosby sexual assault stories surfaced.
Murphy proceeds to do his famous Cosby impression (see: Raw, where a younger Murphy smartly ribs on his idol for chastising filthy comedians). This is a slight change of heart from months ago when Murphy decided against a Cosby impression because he didn’t want to “kick a man when he’s down.”
During the speech, Murphy takes a small jab, joking that Cosby should do a show where he claps back at his detractors and he says (in his Cosby voice), “I would like to talk to some of the people who feel like I should give back my motherfuckin’ trophies.” Sad that Murphy shied away from being more daring and making any insightful snide remarks about Cosby’s lewdness.
Murphy—who was honored by peers like Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock and Tracy Morgan last night—also joked, “You may have heard recently that I allegedly put the pill in the people’s stomach…If I ever see or meet this Hannibal Buress in person, I am going to try and kill this man.”
