David Spade is clearing the air when it comes to his long-running feud with Eddie Murphy, which seemingly and recently came to an end after what David says was 25 years of simmering tension.
Let’s go back to 1995, when Eddie’s critically maligned Vampire in Brooklyn had just seen release in the multiplexes. Enter David, the newly-minted SNL Weekend Update anchor, who remarked “Look, children, a falling star” as a picture of Eddie appeared onscreen. “Make a wish,” he added. You can watch the clip below:
View this video on YouTube
SNL / NBC / Via youtube.com
In recent years, Eddie has made it very clear that he was not pleased by David’s joke. In an interview with The New York Times last year, he alleged that the joke itself was “racist.” “Most people that get off that show, they don’t go on and have these amazing careers. It was personal,” he reflected. “It was like, ‘Yo, how could you do that?’”
In the recently released Netflix doc Being Eddie, the comic legend further reflected on the joke, which led to his refusal to appear on the show for a whopping 20 years. “It’s like your alma mater taking a shot at you,” he said. “The audience there said ‘boo,’ and hissed him for saying it. I was hurt. My feelings was hurt.”
View this video on YouTube
Netflix / Via youtube.com
During a recent episode of his Fly on the Wall podcast with Dana Carvey, David finally addressed the fracas — and, long story short, it sounds like things are mostly resolved between him and Eddie, even if it took a minute to get there.
View this video on YouTube
Fly on the Wall / Via youtube.com
“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,” he said. “We had some bumps in the road along the way, early on. 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.”
David said that, after the joke was told, Eddie called him personally and the pair “had it out.” “Actually, he had it out,” David clarified. “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.”
David then went on to say that he’s seen Eddie “once or twice” since, including at SNL‘s 50th anniversary celebration. “We talked a little bit and everything’s fine. And then they asked him about it and he said, ‘Yeah, we’re all good.’ So yeah, we’re all good.”