Eddie Murphy Called Out the Oscars Live on Stage in 1988 for Not Awarding Black Actors, Says Robin Williams Warned Him It Might Not Be Funny: ‘Why Go There?’

Eddie Murphy recently joined Entertainment Weekly to promote his Netflix documentary “Being Eddie” and looked back to when he presented best picture to Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor.” Murphy deliberately used his time at the Oscars podium to call out the Academy for failing to recognize Black actors over the years. He thought the bit would generate headlines in the Hollywood press, but Murphy says in the doc that he was surprised to discover there were barely any the next day.

“I remember being with Robin Williams backstage,” Murphy recalled to EW about that Oscars night. “I was like, ‘I’m gonna say this.’ And he goes to me, like, ‘But why go there?’ I was like, ‘Oh, you don’t think it’s funny?’ It was more, ‘Is it funny?’ Rather than, ‘It’s controversial.’ I was trying to be funny and say a little something, but be funny too. Have a little edge to what I said.”

In his introduction to announcing the best picture nominees, Murphy recounted how his manager told him the Academy was inviting him to present at the Oscars and that he originally wanted to decline.

“I’m not going because they haven’t recognized Black people in motion pictures,” Murphy told the Oscars audience. “And I’ll probably never win an Oscar for saying this, but hey, what the hey, I gotta say it. Actually, I might not be in any trouble because the way it’s been going is about every 20 years we get one, so we ain’t due to about 2004. So by that time, this will all be blown over.”

At the time, only three acting winners in the Oscars’ 60-year history were Black performers (Hattie McDaniel, Sidney Poitier and Louis Gossett Jr.). Denzel Washington would join the group two years later by winning best supporting actor for “Glory.”

“So I came down here to give the award. I said, ‘But I just feel that we have to be recognized as a people. I just want you to know I’m gonna give this award, but Black people will not ride the caboose of society, and we will not bring up the rear anymore. And I want you to recognize us,” Murphy’s speech concluded.

Murphy told EW that he “wasn’t thinking of the ramifications” of calling out the Oscars’ lack of diversity among its winners when he gave the speech, adding: “I was just trying to be funny in the moment and I wanted what I was saying to be relevant.”

The comedian was right about one thing, though. He has yet to win an Oscar despite being a frontrunner for the best supporting actor prize in 2007 for “Dreamgirls.” Alan Arkin ended up winning in a surprise victory for “Little Miss Sunshine” after Murphy took home prizes from the Golden Globes and Screen Actors’ Guild Awards. Some have speculated that “Norbit,” Murphy’s disastrously-reviewed comedy that opened just a week after he received his Oscar nomination. Murphy has defended “Norbit” in various interview of the years.

“I love ‘Norbit,’” Murphy said earlier this year on Complex’s “360 With Speedy Morman” series. “‘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. 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, shit ain’t that bad.’”

“Being Eddie” premieres on Netflix on Nov. 12.