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Eddie Murphy meant the Oscars no harm.
The actor, 64, is setting the record straight on why he exited the 2007 Academy Awards early after being nominated for the first time for Best Supporting Actor.
Murphy played James “Thunder” Early (Jimmy) in the 2006 musical “Dreamgirls” opposite Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx and Beyoncé.
The comedian was nominated alongside Alan Arkin for “Little Miss Sunshine,” Jackie Earle Haley in “Little Children,” Mark Wahlberg for “The Departed” and Djimon Hounsou (“Blood Diamond”).
However, Arkin, who died in 2023 at age 89, took home the win.
Hudson, 44, did score the award for Best Supporting Actress, but Murphy was long gone by the time the actress accepted her trophy.
“What happened was I was at the Oscars, I had lost, and then people kept coming over to me and kept [patting] me on the shoulder,” the “Haunted Mansion” star told Entertainment Weekly on Saturday. “Clint Eastwood came and rubbed my shoulder. And I was like, oh, no, no, I’m not gonna be this guy all night. Let’s just leave. I didn’t storm out. I was like, I’m not gonna be the sympathy guy all night.”
Murphy added that he knew Arkin would win, calling his role in the comedy drama “hysterically funny.”
“Jeff Katzenberg invited me over to see ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ six months before it came out in the theaters, and I literally watched the movie and I watched Alan — and I hadn’t been nominated or anything yet — and I watched the movie and I turned to Jeff afterwards and I said, ‘Now that performance right there is one of those performances that will steal somebody’s Oscar,’” the “Coming to America” actor recounted. “I said those exact words. I was like, ‘He could steal somebody’s Oscar,’ then he stole mine.”
As Murphy clarified: “No, I don’t feel like he stole mine.”
The stand up knows, however, that “winning an Oscar is more art than science. It’s not like oh, you do this, and you do that, and you win the Oscar. No, it’s all this intangible stuff that comes with winning: campaigning and your past stuff and what do they owe you and s–t. All of that stuff comes into play when you get Oscars.”
Murphy couldn’t help but gush over Arkin one last time, telling the outlet: “When you add all of that stuff into it, he totally deserves his Oscar for his whole career. He’s an amazing actor.”
In the star’s new documentary, “Being Eddie,” Murphy got candid on the downside of losing an award.
“The mindf–k for me is that I get dressed and come to the thing, ’cause I would usually not go to award shows,” he expressed. “Whenever I lose, I’m like, ‘These motherf–kers made me come all the way down. I could have f–king lost at home. I’m all in the f–king tuxedo. What a waste of time.”
Meanwhile, in August, Murphy defended his 2007 critically-panned rom-com “Norbit,” which many believed caused him to lose the “Dreamgirls” Oscar.
“I love ‘Norbit,’” he told Complex at the time. “‘Norbit’ came out right after I got that Oscar nomination. There were articles like, ‘How can he get an Oscar, he did this?’ They’re two different movies.”
“I wrote ‘Norbit’ with my brother, Charlie, and we think ‘Norbit’ is funny,” continued Murphy. “Here’s the thing with ‘Norbit,’ it came out and they gave me a Razzie Awards for worst actress, worst actor and worst actor of the decade. And I was like, ‘Come on now, sh-t ain’t that bad.’”
In the movie, the “Shrek” vet plays multiple roles including an overweight wife named Rasputia.
One week before “Norbit” came out, Murphy received his first Oscar nomination.
He went on to win at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards during that award season, but the alleged “Norbit effect” came right before he lost the Academy Award.
As Murphy put it: “I like ‘Norbit.’ To this day, I like ‘Norbit.’ There’s stuff in ‘Norbit’ that makes me laugh.”