Eddie Murphy tells EW why he really left the Oscars early after losing for Dreamgirls in 2007.He insists it had nothing to do with being mad that Alan Arkin beat him, calling the late actor “hysterically funny” in Little Miss Sunshine.A gesture from Clint Eastwood was the last straw that led Murphy to leave before his costars performed that night.<\/p>\n
When Eddie Murphy<\/a> lost at the 2007 Oscars<\/a>, headlines accused him of bolting<\/a> out in anger, but the legendary comedian explains to Entertainment Weekly that it wasn’t bitterness that led to his early exit, but feeling pity from a Hollywood icon.\n<\/p>\n The Saturday Night Live alum snagged his first Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role as James “Thunder” Early, a.k.a. Jimmy, in the musical Dreamgirls, costarring Jamie Foxx, Beyonc\u00e9, and Jennifer Hudson.\n<\/p>\n Murphy was in a stacked category, up against Alan Arkin<\/a> for Little Miss Sunshine, Jackie Earle Haley for Little Children, Djimon Hounsou for Blood Diamond, and Mark Wahlberg for The Departed. The comedian appeared nervous as Rachel Weisz paid tribute to each nominee before opening the envelope to reveal the winner. Then he politely applauded as Arkin made his way up to the stage.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Murphy didn\u2019t stay to watch Hudson win Best Supporting Actress or to enjoy his costars’ performance of the film’s three Best Original Song nominees \u2014 leading to speculation he was pissed.\n<\/p>\n “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,” Murphy tells EW during a discussion about his Netflix documentary Being Eddie<\/a>. “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.”<\/p>\n Eddie Murphy and Anika Noni Rose in ‘Dreamgirls’. Murphy insists he knew Arkin had the Oscar in the bag before they were even in competition for it, calling the actor, who died in 2023<\/a>, “hysterically funny” in his winning role.\n<\/p>\n “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 \u2014 and I hadn’t been nominated or anything yet \u2014 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,'” Murphy recalls. “I said those exact words. I was like, ‘He could steal somebody’s Oscar,’ then he stole mine.”\n<\/p>\n Murphy laughs, then clarifies, “No, I don’t feel like he stole mine.”\n<\/p>\n The Coming to America star explains that he’s come to learn “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—. All of that stuff comes into play when you get Oscars.”\n<\/p>\n He says Arkin had that winning formula. “When you add all of that stuff into it, he totally deserves his Oscar for his whole career. He’s an amazing actor.”\n<\/p>\n Abigail Breslin and Alan Arkin in ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ (2006).<\/p>\n Eric Lee\/Fox Searchlight<\/p>\n In Being Eddie, Murphy calls losing any award a “mindf—,” mostly due to the effort of going to the ceremony for no reason.\n<\/p>\n “The mindf— for me is that I get dressed and come to the thing, ’cause I would usually not go to award shows,” he says in the career-spanning documentary. “Whenever I lose, I’m like, These motherf—ers made me come all the way down. I could have f—ing lost at home. I’m all in the f—ing tuxedo. What a waste of time.”\n<\/p>\n Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our\u00a0EW Dispatch newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nDavid James\/Paramount<\/p>\n