Eddie Murphy made his return to “Saturday Night Live” last weekend after a 35-year absence. While his jokes had audiences laughing, Bill Cosby’s publicist isn’t finding it funny.
Murphy’s monologue for the Dec. 21 Christmas episode saw him remark on how his life has changed from being a superstar comic to a stay-at-home father of 10.
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“If you would’ve told me 30 years ago that I would be this boring, stay at home house dad and Bill Cosby would be in jail — even I wouldn't have taken that bet,” Murphy said before imitating Cosby.
“Who’s America’s dad now?” he said.
In 2018, Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his suburban Philadelphia mansion. A jury determined he sexually assaulted former Temple University women's basketball administrator Andrea Constand. The comedian who became known as "America's Dad" thanks to "The Cosby Show" lost an appeal of his conviction earlier this month.
» RELATED: Bill Cosby loses appeal on conviction for sexual assault
On Sunday, Cosby’s publicist responded to Murphy’s joke with a statement posted to the imprisoned comic’s Instagram page.
“Mr. Cosby became the first Black to win an Emmy for his role in I Spy and Mr. Cosby broke color barriers in the Entertainment Industry, so that Blacks like Eddie Murphy, Dave Chappell, Kevin Hart and et al., could have an opportunity to showcase their talents for many generations to come,” began Andrew Wyatt. “It is sad that Mr. Murphy would take this glorious moment of returning to SNL and make disparaging remarks against Mr. Cosby. One would think that Mr. Murphy was given his freedom to leave the plantation, so that he could make his own decisions; but he decided to sell himself back to being a Hollywood Slave.”
“Hopefully, you will be amenable to having a meeting of the minds conversation, in order to discuss how we can use our collective platforms to enhance Black people rather than bringing all of us down together,” he concluded.
The post also included the hashtags #NotFunnySNL, #FarFromFinished and #FreeBillCosby.
Murphy has not publicly responded to Wyatt’s remarks.
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